


Life On Earth

by bansheequeen (queenbanshee), xtremeroswellian



Category: Smallville
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Bestest Cousins, Character death is the bad guy, Clark is judgmental, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Living Together, Lois is a Chlollie shipper, Meteor infection, Not Clark Kent friendly, Oliver is good at keeping secrets, Pregnancy, Protective Lois Lane, Protective Oliver Queen, Running Away, See if you spot it, Slow Burn, Star City, Supportive Oliver Queen, The end of season 8 and most of season 9 made us dislike Clark, Traumatic childbirth, Vague reference to a Marvel Superhero, sorry - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-09
Updated: 2020-05-09
Packaged: 2021-03-03 00:20:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 14
Words: 38,180
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24095737
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/queenbanshee/pseuds/bansheequeen, https://archiveofourown.org/users/xtremeroswellian/pseuds/xtremeroswellian
Summary: This is basically an AU of another fic we wrote called "Lifeboats," and what it might have looked like if Oliver had found Chloe much sooner when she went on the run.
Relationships: Chloe Sullivan & Lois Lane, Lois Lane & Clark Kent, Oliver Queen & Lois Lane, Oliver Queen/Chloe Sullivan, Past Davis Bloome/Chloe Sullivan, past James "Jimmy" Olsen/Chloe Sullivan
Kudos: 13





	1. Chapter 1

Tired and aching from the brief battle with Doomsday, Oliver slowly made his way into Watchtower. His chest was tight as he took the elevator up to the top floor. Months ago, Jimmy had asked if Oliver would loan him the money for it as a wedding gift to Chloe and Oliver hadn't hesitated. Chloe had done so much for the team, had been such a good friend to him, there was no way he could say no.

Oliver hadn't been to the place since the day Jimmy had shown it to him and asked for the loan. He knew that Clark had told Chloe and Jimmy to take Davis there to get out of the line of fire, and while Oliver hadn't been thrilled with the idea of them going off with Davis, he had reluctantly stepped aside. He rubbed a hand over his face tiredly, wincing at the pain in his cheek from the rather large cut beneath his eye.

Letting out a breath, he stepped off the elevator, pausing to listen, but there was nothing but utter silence. Swallowing hard, he slowly moved forward into the main room, sucking in a breath when the scent of blood hit his nostrils, his stomach turning immediately.

And that's when he saw the body, in the middle of the floor, blood pooled all around. A sharp metal pole protruded from the victim's stomach.

"Oh God," he whispered, quickly moving forward and kneeling down next to Jimmy, pressing his fingers to the other man's neck. His skin was cold to the touch, and there was no pulse. Feeling sick, he quickly rose to his feet once more, looking around and then up. "Chloe!" His voice was loud, tense with fear. He listened once more, but he could only hear the blood rushing in his ears.

He quickly grabbed his cell phone from his belt and sent an SOS text to both Dinah and Bart.

Bart's phone had barely gone off and he was there, his eyes wide because he couldn't think of anything else that could possibly go wrong. The answer was very clear when he walked into the building, "what-- happened?" He asked, his own stomach turning as he looked down at the pool of blood underneath the other man.

"I don't know," Oliver said grimly, not looking down at Jimmy again. "But I don't think they're here anymore."

" _They_?" Bart echoed, "Chloe and Davis?"

He met the younger man's eyes and nodded slightly.

Swallowing hard, Bart nodded and ran around the top floor of the building before stopping in front of his boss again and shaking his head, "should I search the surrounding areas?"

"Yeah. Go," he said quietly, forcing himself to take a deep breath.

Bart nodded and was about to vanish from the room then stopped, "hm, dude, probably better if you don't stick around here."

Oliver raised his eyebrows. "What makes you say that?"

He glanced at the dead body in the middle of the room but didn't look directly at it then shrugged at Oliver.

"I'll be fine, Bart. Go look for Chloe," he said quietly. "I'm gonna look around, see if I can find any clues in here."

Bart stared at him for a moment then nodded a little and disappeared.

Swallowing hard, Oliver looked around the large, unfinished room, pausing for a moment when he caught sight of Chloe's purse on the floor in the corner. Carefully moving around the body, he walked over and picked it up off the floor. Feeling a little guilty at going through her things, he unzipped the purse and grimaced when he found her cell phone almost instantly, his stomach tightening. Chloe wouldn't have voluntarily gone somewhere without her phone. His heart beating a little faster, he dug through the rest of the contents, pausing when he found a folded up paper. Drawing in a breath, he unfolded it quickly and read over it, freezing at what he'd read. "Oh God," he whispered.

Dinah had just ran into Bart on her way up and he had quickly told her about Jimmy, but even with the heads up, the scene inside the apartment was shocking, "Oliver?" She called when she saw him in a corner.

Feeling sick, he rose to his feet slowly, tucking the paper into his vest before turning around to look at Dinah. "We have a problem."

"I can see that," she said, eying his actions but quickly entering mission mode once more, "what are we doing?"

"Impulse is looking for Watchtower and Bloome," he answered. "Any word on Clark?"

"No sign of him anywhere," Dinah told him, "someone will need to clean up in here."

Oliver drew in a breath, nodding shortly. "I'm on it. Can you help Impulse?"

She was about to question, but stopped herself, nodding instead, "let me know if you need a hand in here."

"I will. Thanks." He watched her turn and head for the door, his body tense as he looked down at Jimmy, his chest tightening even more. "What happened here?" he whispered.

* * *

To say she was terrified didn't even begin to cover it, she had never been so scared in her entire life, and she had been in some very tough situations before. But she had never had to do something like this, something so incredibly cold, so incredibly dangerous because if a little detail went wrong, the tables would turn and she wasn't the only person he was going to hurt.

She needed fuel to do this, needed to gather all the memories she could and to remind herself why this was the right, no why this was the _only_ answer.

And so she focused, focused on her nightmare, the one that had Clark's torso hanging from the ceiling, focused on the anger in Oliver's, Bart's and Dinah's face, at the betrayal clear on their features even as they _helped_ her. If this worked, she would be needing their help again. And lastly, she focused on Jimmy, on the look on his face, something she was sure she would never forget as long as she lived, the way his eyes widened and his mouth fell open even as blood started dripping from it, the pain written all over his face as he knelt to the ground, holding on to the weapon that was taking his life. She focused on how helpless and insignificant she felt as she watched it all happen, as if in slow motion, even as Davis picked her up and dragged her out the door.

She focused on the image of Jimmy, laying on the floor, choking in his own blood, and that was enough.

Enough people had suffered because of him and she might not have succeeded in ending this the first time around, but she was certain she could do it now, now that he was human, if one could call someone like Davis human.

With a deep breath, she looked down at the pistol in her hand. It was Davis', the same gun he'd been pointing at her for weeks now as he dragged her into cheap motel after cheap motel, they were somewhere in Minnesota now and she knew his goal was to cross over to Canada with the passports she had provided them the first time they'd taken off, the time she had _agreed_ with going. Before everything had changed.

But she had no intentions of making it that far now.

Chloe poked her head out of the bathroom and focused on his steady breathing, a few weeks was long enough for her to know his sleeping patterns and to know how deeply he usually slept, and this was it. This was the perfect time, the perfect opportunity.

With her jaw tight and her stomach in knots, she quietly made her way to the bed, picked up her own pillow and in a quick move, she shoved it over his face, placed the gun over it and with a muffled yet deafening sound, she watched as the previously white pillow turned crimson.


	2. Chapter 2

Oliver paced the length of his penthouse apartment. It was well after Midnight and he couldn't remember the last time he'd slept for more than thirty minutes at a time.

She'd been gone for weeks, and they had absolutely no leads to go on. To top it off, Lois was still missing, as well, and Clark seemed to be more determined to find her than Chloe. His jaw tightened with anger as he continued to pace. Chloe had been kidnapped by a psychotic who'd killed a bunch of people, including Jimmy Olsen. And while he was also concerned with Lois' whereabouts, he knew for _certain_ that Chloe was in danger.

He looked up as the very man he'd been thinking about stepped off the elevator. "Clark." His voice was guarded.

Clark stared at Oliver for a moment, "Oliver," he said, his own voice just as guarded.

"Did you find something?" He had no interest in making small talk.

"No." Clark said, "I was hoping you would have."

He let out a breath. "No. Nothing. Unfortunately when she erased herself from existence, it made her doubly hard to track down now."

Clark's jaw clenched slightly but he just nodded, "I won't be around." He told the other man.

Oliver cocked his head to the side, staring at him. "What do you mean?"

"I have to leave for my training," Clark said, "I don't know when I'll be back."

He was silent for a few seconds. "Are you _kidding_ me?"

Clark raised his eyebrows in surprise but remained silent.

Oliver took a step toward him, his jaw tight. "Chloe is out there somewhere being held hostage by a psychotic serial killer! Lois is God knows where--and you want to take off so you can learn how to _fly_?"

Clark's jaw tightened in return, "Chloe made her choice months ago, Oliver, and her choice wasn't _us_." He said firmly then looked away, "and Lois is... gone, it's the only explanation." He added in a whisper.

"She was trying to protect _you_!" He ground out, glaring at Clark. "She's out there now somewhere, and she needs our help!"

"You don't know that, Oliver," Clark told him, "that's what--" he stopped mid-sentence and looked down as Oliver's phone beeped on the table.

Still glaring at Clark, he made his way over to the table, picking up his telephone and pausing at the text message on the screen. The number was blocked, but the message was clear. _Need help. Room 32, South Bridge Motel. Minnesota. Please be fast._

Oliver sucked in a breath involuntarily before tucking the phone into his pocket. "I have business to take care of," he told Clark, his voice cold as he headed for the elevator.

"What is it?" Clark asked, eyes narrowing as he followed the other man.

"Personal," he responded, not looking back.

"Is it Chloe?" Clark pressed, Oliver's heart rate had just shot through the roof.

"Don't you have _training_ to go to?" Oliver retorted, pressing the down button on the elevator.

"Tell me, Oliver," Clark said, grabbing the other man's arm.

His eyes narrowed dangerously. "Get your hand off me," he ordered.

Clark glared at him for a moment before pulling his hand away, but he didn't step back.

Oliver glared back at him, his jaw tight as the elevator began to descend. When it reached the underground garage, he headed for his car wordlessly.

Clark remained where he was, listening to Oliver for a moment longer, before rushing away. He would figure out what it was later, for now, he wanted to search for Lois one more time.

He dialed Bart's number as he climbed into his car. "I need your help."

"Did you find her?" Bart asked before he could stop himself.

"I'm not sure," he admitted. "I got an anonymous text asking for help."

"Where are you?"

"The parking garage beneath the clock tower."

Bart showed up a second later and stopped by the driver's seat, looking down at Oliver, "could be a trap."

"Could be," he said quietly, handing over his phone so Bart could read the message. "Or it could be a sincere plea for help. I won't risk not going. She's in trouble."

Bart read the text over a couple of times before handing it back to Oliver, nodding a little, "lets go."

Nodding, Oliver climbed out of the car and drew in a deep breath, hoping to God they weren't going to be too late this time.

He picked Oliver up and seconds later, they were standing outside a cheap looking roadside motel. Bart frowned and read the sign that had letters missing once more then nodded, "this is it."

Oliver took a step toward the door, his body already tensed for a fight as he reached out and turned the doorknob, not completely surprised to find that it was already unlocked.

Bart was right behind him, also ready for a fight as they stepped into the small room and then he stilled as he realized there was a man laying on the bed and the pillows and sheets were almost completely red.

"Jesus," Oliver whispered, freezing in the doorway.

Without blinking, Bart nudged Oliver inside then closed the door behind them before looking at the bed again, "is that..?"

"Look for a wallet," he said quietly, locking the door and slowly moving to the bed. Dread washing over him, he reluctantly lifted the pillow up, gagging involuntarily.

Bart sped through the room and shook his head, "no wallet, no clothes, nothing."

"I don't know if it's him or not." There wasn't enough of his face left to tell. He turned away from the scene, trying to ignore the fact that his stomach was churning. "No sign of Chloe?"

"No," Bart said with a shake of his head, his own stomach turning as a thought occurred to him, "do you think she would have...? I mean, if it is him."

Oliver grew still, swallowing hard. "It would have been self-defense, Bart."

"...Right," Bart nodded, "I guess whoever it was that said they needed help either wanted us to clean this up or to investigate it?"

He paused at that, glancing at him sideways. "Or both," he murmured.

"What should we do?" Bart asked nervously, not wanting to spend any more time with the body than he had to.

Oliver rubbed a hand over his face, forcing himself to take a deep breath. "You go back." His voice was quiet. "I'll take care of this."

"Dude," Bart shook his head, "no way, I'm helping you, besides, I doubt you can carry him out on your own," he pointed out, "without being seen."

He drew in a breath and let it out slowly, knowing Bart was right. He just didn't want to get the kid involved anymore than he already was. "We need to take him to Emil. Try and get a positive ID on him."

"Yeah," Bart swallowed, looking over to the bed, "Let’s wrap him up or something, and I'll take him back then come back for you."

Nodding shortly, Oliver grimaced as he tugged the comforter from beneath the man's feet, covering his body up with it silently, pausing as it occurred to him there was only one bed in the room. His stomach turned and he had to take a deep breath to keep himself from throwing up.

Bart paused and pulled the sheet from the mattress, wrapping it up and around the guy too, "how long ago do you think this happened?"

"I don't know. I have no idea," he murmured. He glanced at Bart. "Take him to Emil, but don't come back for me. I'm gonna check around, see what I can find out. If she's still here, maybe I can find her."

Bart frowned and shook his head, "dude, we're gonna have to burn this mattress or something, you can't do it alone?" He was trying really hard not to think about what they were doing because if he did, he wasn't sure he _could_ do it.

"I want to make sure it's him before we do anything. For all we know he killed some guy who was trying to help her." He wouldn't hesitate in covering up the whole thing if Chloe had killed Davis out of self-defense, but he wasn't going to cover up anything if there was a chance Davis had murdered someone else.

"Right..." Bart said, looking down at the wrapped up body, "I'll be back with the results, then."

He looked over at the younger man, feeling remorse and guilt tug at him. "I'm sorry, Bart." His voice was quiet.

Bart frowned at him and shook his head, "don't be, man, this isn't your fault," he said, hesitating before taking a step forward and picking up the heavy body, disappearing without another word because he didn't want to think about whose fault it was.

Oliver stared down at the bloodied mattress for a long moment, then down at his hands, grimacing. He quickly moved to the bathroom to wash up, his heart beating quickly in his chest. He glanced around the small room, but saw nothing out of place. He dried his hands and moved back to the other room, stilling when he saw Clark standing there. _Shit_.

Clark's eyes went from the bloody mattress to Oliver when he showed up again, "what is going on here?"

His expression was one of neutrality. Being CEO of Queen Industries and moonlighting as the Green Arrow had given him ample opportunity to perfect his poker face. "I don't know."

"Whose blood is it?" Clark pressed.

"I don't _know_ ," Oliver repeated evenly. "I'm looking into it."

"Who called you about this?"

"No one," he said honestly.

Clark's eyes narrowed and he took a step forward, "does Chloe have anything to do with this?"

Oliver kept his eyes on Clark, his jaw tightening just a little. "I don't know anything for certain," he responded.

"But you think she does." Clark said, his own jaw tightening.

"All I know is that I got an anonymous text asking for my help at this location," Oliver told him evenly.

"Where is Bart?" Clark asked, knowing that he had to have had Bart bring him over if he had gotten there that fast.

"I sent him away." And that was about the last detail that Clark Kent was going to get out of him. "I have work to do."

Clark's eyes narrowed as he stared at Oliver, "I'll find out if Chloe had anything to do with this, and if she does, you better let me know."

His jaw tightened a little more at the unspoken warning. "I thought you were running off to go to your _training_."

"I am," Clark said, "but I'm keeping an ear on things here."

"I don't need your help," he informed the other man. "And if you were listening a little better, you'd have been able to find Chloe _and_ Lois by now." So it was harsh. But he didn't have time to stand around arguing with Clark.

"Chloe knows she can call for me, she would have if she wanted to be found."

 _Not if she was keeping a secret she was terrified of you finding out about_ , he thought bitterly. "Just go."

Clark stared at Oliver for a moment longer, "you better not be keeping anything from me, Oliver." He said before rushing away.

"Jackass," Oliver muttered, gritting his teeth as he headed toward the door.


	3. Chapter 3

By the time his jet landed on the runway at LaGuardia Airport, he was exhausted. He'd been up for thirty-six hours straight. After months of doing little but searching for her, he finally had what he was convinced was a solid lead on her whereabouts. He had a few friends--more like close, trusted acquaintances--sprinkled throughout the country. Peter had been the one to contact him, sending him a picture-text and while she looked different in the photo (which he'd fully expected, considering), he was just as certain that it was, in fact, her.

Raking a hand through his hair, he didn't bother to unload his things from the back as he made his way off the jet, immediately flagging down a cab once he'd made it through the terminal. From there it was a short ride to the rundown motel and he cringed involuntarily at the sight of it.

It wasn't a place he thought anyone should be staying at, let alone someone like Chloe Sullivan. He made his way toward the door, the second number on it barely hanging on, and he raised his hand to knock.

Chloe stilled when there was a knock on the door, she stayed quiet, but the TV was on, and when there was another knock, she knew she had no way out of answering it, and hopefully, it was just an employee or someone checking for disturbances again, since there had just been yelling next door, so with a deep breath, she pushed herself up off of the bed with some difficulty and walked over to the door, hesitating for a second before opening it.

And she instantly wished she hadn't, her eyes widened when she saw not only a familiar face, but _Oliver's_ , the one person who probably had connected the dots about what had happened with Davis considering she had asked him to clean up after her. And now there was no hiding her current situation.

Oliver held his breath as he laid eyes on her for the first time in nearly seven months, his chest tightening at the sight. Her face was pale, very pale. Like she'd barely been outside in months. Her eyes were haunted, dark circles beneath them and he realized she was probably more exhausted than he was. Wordlessly he reached out and laid a hand on her shoulder, swallowing hard as he looked down at her swollen stomach.

She stared up at him even as he looked down at her stomach, she was surprised _he_ didn't look more surprised, but she just stepped back and made room for him to walk in. She couldn't exactly shut the door in his face, not after what he had done for her.

He stepped inside and closed the door quietly, glancing around the room. His chest tightened even more. The walls were a pale shade of yellow, large stains and holes in them. The smell was awful. He could hear yelling from a couple of doors down and the sound of banging somewhere in the distance. He didn't even want to know. He turned to look at her once more. "We need to get you out of here," he said very quietly.

"What are you doing here?" She asked, staring up at him.

Oliver gazed at her intently. "What do you think?"

"I can't go anywhere," she said, lifting her hands to her stomach, "and you can't tell anyone about this."

"You can't stay here, Chloe." He paused. "And I haven't."

" _Haven't_?" She echoed, holding her breath as she stared up at him, her heart suddenly beating faster.

He was quiet for a moment. "I've known since the beginning," he told her quietly.

Chloe swallowed, looking down and shaking her head a little, "how?"

"I found the test results in your purse," he admitted, his chest tightening a little.

She let out a breath and closed her eyes, she hadn't even thought of the possibility that someone would have looked into her purse, but it made sense, if he was looking for her, and she was just grateful Clark hadn't been the one to find it, "does Clark know?"

"No." There was no hesitation before he responded. "Like I said, I haven't told anyone."

"Thank you," she whispered quietly then shook her head, "how did you find me?" She knew she'd been so incredibly careful about not leaving any traces.

"A trusted contact here in the city," he admitted quietly.

Chloe stared at him for a long moment then walked over to the bed and sat back down, she knew this would happen sooner or later, with so many of them, no matter how careful she was, it was only a matter of time before they tracked her down and in a way, she was almost relieved that Oliver had been the one to find her, still, it didn't change things, "I'm not going back."

Oliver was silent for a moment. "I'm not asking you to," he told her, slowly moving over to sit down beside her.

She frowned a little at that, "then what?"

He glanced at her sideways. "I have two ideas. We can go to Star City. Or we can go somewhere else, just the two of us, and no one knows."

Swallowing hard, she shook her head a little, "it's not that simple," she whispered, looking down at her stomach and covering it with both her hands.

He drew in a breath and let it out slowly. "I know it's not," he admitted, looking down at the floor. "But do you really want to do this alone?"

Her jaw tightened at that and she closed her eyes, which immediately got teary at his words, it was the last thing she wanted to do, she had been so scared all these months and the closer she got to giving birth, the more she wished she could call someone, that she could have someone there to tell her it was going to be okay, but she couldn't risk anyone else's life, "you have helped me enough already, Oliver," she whispered, "I can't get you involved in this."

"I'm already involved in this, Chloe," Oliver responded, glancing at her sideways. "And I'm not giving you the choice."

With a deep breath, she shook her head, "no, Oliver, you don't understand what you're saying and I'm not letting you risk yourself like this," it was bad enough that Jimmy had died because of her. Her arms tightened around her stomach, "I don't know how dangerous she will be," she whispered.

"She?" he whispered, his chest tightening. "You know for sure?"

"Yes, she," Chloe said, then shook her head, closing her eyes again, "she is Davis', Oliver." She admitted guilty, "and it happened before the beast was separated," she knew for sure when it had happened because she had only slept with him once, in a desperate attempt to get the beast within him to calm down, but it had only half worked and it had been painful and rough and horrible, and enough to teach her a lesson.

"Chloe..." He shut his eyes for a moment. "I've known that too." Or at the very least, strongly suspected it.

"Then why are you here?" She asked again, eyes tearing up once more.

Oliver's chest tightened as her voice wavered. He hesitantly wrapped his arm around her shoulders. "To help," he whispered.

Chloe stilled for a moment, tensing as he wrapped an arm around her, then her shoulders slumped forward as she shook her head, "I couldn't get rid of her," she admitted quietly, covering her face with her hands, "it would have been the safest thing to do but I... couldn't."

"Chloe." His eyes were dark with emotion. "It's okay. I'm not here to judge you for that."

She didn't say anything or looked at him for a long moment, willing herself to calm down, even if she knew it was a losing battle against the hormones, but when she managed as much as she could, she lifted her head and sniffled, looking at him, "you know what I did, Oliver, and although I'm grateful for your help in that situation, you have done enough."

"Let me be the judge of that." He gazed at her intently.

Chloe watched him for a long moment then looked back down at her stomach, "I don't understand why."

"Because I need to," he whispered, swallowing hard.

At his answer, she frowned a little more and turned to look at him, he had nothing to make up for, so this made no sense, "why?" She asked again.

He shook his head a little, rising to his feet. "Just...let me help you, Chloe."

Pursing her lips together, she watched him for a moment longer then nodded slightly, "I don't know how you can."

"First of all..." He grimaced as he heard something break from the next room. "We're getting you out of this hellhole."

Chloe kept her eyes on him for a long moment, "I can't let Clark find me."

He turned to look at her. "He's doing his training at his ice palace." His voice grew distant.

She blinked at that, "he's not around?"

His jaw tightened. "He's 'keeping an ear out'," he responded, making air quotes with his fingers.

"I knew he would never understand," she told Oliver, sighing deeply and wincing a little as she raised a hand to her side, "that's why I couldn't go back."

He winced, looking down at the floor, and blew out a breath. "I figured that was part of it," he admitted.

Chloe rubbed her hand against the side of her stomach as the baby kicked it repeatedly and sighed, adjusting to try and get her to stop, "it was most of it."

"I'm sorry," he whispered, his voice almost inaudible.

"This isn't your fault," she said quietly, shaking her head, "please don't apologize," if anything, Oliver had been the one person who had been right all along.

Oliver's chest tightened and he took a step toward her once more, then slowly knelt down in front of her. "Let me help you. Both of you."

With a deep breath, she looked at him for a long moment, her eyes tearing up again before she could do something about, and she nodded a little, "but if there is something wrong with her, if she becomes a threat," Chloe shook her head, her stomach turning like it did every time she considered the possibility, "we'll leave."

" _If_ ," he echoed very softly. "We don't know anything for sure." He hesitantly reached his hand out to her.

Her vision blurred as she looked down at his hand, hesitating for a moment before placing her hand in his and nodding slightly as she sniffed quietly, "thank you." She knew it wasn't fair, she knew she was getting Oliver into this possibly life threatening situation, but the more time that passed, the more she questioned her ability to do it on her own and she simply couldn't turn him down.

Oliver nodded slightly, giving her hand a gentle squeeze. "Let's get you out of here," he whispered. "And to some place that doesn't look like it's about to collapse. Okay?"

Pursing her lips together, she nodded slightly, her chest tight as she tried to figure out _why_ he was doing this, "okay," Chloe whispered back, "but where are we going?"

He rose to his feet, still holding onto her hand. "We can spend the night in a nice hotel with room service," he said quietly. "While we figure out what to do from here."

"Okay," she repeated, shifting to the edge of the bed then moving to stand up, "I just need to pack a couple of things," she told him. She didn't have much, just clothes and a couple of things she had bought for the baby, because she hadn't been able to stop herself. She had never really planned on having kids, but out of all scenarios she thought were possible, not even being able to buy her future child clothes and toys because she had to make sure she kept saving the money for living expenses and possible hospital bills, was far worse than she even imagined.

Sure, she could have simply hacked accounts and created fake credit cards, but after murdering someone, she just hadn't been able to bring herself to do anything else that wasn't right.

Wordlessly he wound his arm around her, helping her to her feet and swallowing hard. "Chloe?"

"Thank you," she told him once more as she stood up then looked up at him, waiting for him to say whatever it was he wanted to say.

"Are you _okay_?" he asked very quietly, searching her eyes.

Chloe's chest tightened at the words and she moved away from him, picking up some clothes she had on top of a dresser and shoving them inside the suitcase that was open next to it, she didn't want to answer that question because she wasn't sure how to, there were so many things, so many reasons why she wasn't okay, but physically, for whatever reason, they were both healthy, which would probably be a better answer for Oliver than the truth, but considering how much he already knew and how much he had done and was still willing to do for her, she didn't have the heart to lie to him, so she simply remained silent.

Oliver swallowed hard at her silence, watching as she began to pack up her scarce belongings. "I won't tell you everything's going to be okay," he said softly. "But I will tell you that I'll do everything I can to make sure it can be."

She sniffed quietly as tears ran down her cheek and nodded slightly, "thank you," she whispered, her voice wavering as she kept on picking up clothes.

His chest tightened. "You don't need to thank me." He picked up the other small suitcase by the closet and set it on the bed, unzipping it.

Once she had shoved as much as she could into the suitcase she'd been working on, she stepped into the small bathroom and picked up everything she had in there, which wasn't much more than a towel, hairdryer, toothbrush and hairbrush, she wasn't going to bother with the liquids, she came back and dropped them all unceremoniously into the bag he had unzipped, "I think that's all." She said quietly, looking down at it.

He hesitantly rested a hand on her shoulder, his chest tight. "I'll get the suitcases," he said quietly, picking them up and heading for the door.

"Thank you," she said one more time, silently wondering if she could ever thank him enough for everything he'd done and now this, on top of it.

* * *

A little over an hour later, Oliver was holding open the door to a large hotel suite, holding her suitcases as he waited for her to step inside. When she had, he shut the door and locked it quietly, setting the bags down by the sofa. "Are you hungry?" he asked softly.

The second her eyes fell on the bed, Chloe couldn't stop herself from making a beeline toward it. The thought of sleeping in a nice, comfortable bed, one that didn't make her back feel like it was on fire after laying on it for about three hours alone was like a dream and on top of that, he was offering her food, food which she didn't have to go anywhere to go buy it herself when her feet felt like two huge baked potatoes.

"I could eat something," she told him quietly, nodding a little as she sat down on the bed, which wasn't as big of an effort since the bed was much higher than the previous one.

He smiled faintly, moving over to the nightstand and picking up the menu from it, handing it to her. "Whatever you want. If what you want is not on the menu, we'll order take-out of some kind."

Chloe opened the menu and nodded a little, looking over for a second, "I probably haven't been eating as well as I should," she admitted quietly, "what are you having?"

He glanced down at the menu. "Probably some kind of chicken," he told her, pausing. "Can I sit down?" he asked softly.

"Yeah, of course," she said, frowning a little at the question as she looked up at him.

Oliver offered her a small smile and sat down beside her, glancing at the menu more closely. "Does anything sound good?"

Chloe moved the menu closer to him so they could both read it and nodded, "yeah, the meat pizza," she said, making a face, "I've had so much pizza in the past few months..." she admitted.

He glanced at her sideways. "All right, what if we get you some kind of green vegetable to go with it?"

Wrinkling her nose, she nodded a little, turning the page on the menu for a second and looking at the sides, "I guess a side of broccoli would make it better."

A small smile tugged at his mouth and he paused for a moment. "When's the last time you saw a doctor?" he asked softly.

"Three weeks ago," she said quietly, handing him the menu, "I avoided going as long as I could, but in the beginning of my fourth month, I wasn't feeling well and I was afraid something was wrong, so I had to."

He relaxed a little at that, nodding and taking the menu when she held it out to him. "Did they give you any prenatal vitamins? Any special instructions?"

"Everything is okay so far," she said quietly, "she's healthy and there doesn't seem to be anything out of the ordinary, but they did give me a couple of vitamins I should take."

Oliver let out a breath he hadn't even realized he'd been holding. "How would you feel about seeing Dr. Hamilton?" he asked very softly.

Chloe took a deep breath and shifted, placing her hands behind herself and leaned back to take the pressure off of her back as much as possible, "I think as long as it's just between us, he'd be the best doctor to have around," she said sincerely, "I almost called him several times, I was afraid of what the doctors might find if I went in."

He nodded a little. "I'll have him flown in," he said quietly, watching her. "You can lie down if you'd be more comfortable, Chloe. I'll order our dinner."

"Thank you," Chloe said again, watching as he stood up to get her phone before taking off her shoes and shifting to lie down, sighing deeply as she did, "I've never had back problems, but it's been horrible in the past month or so."

"Is that normal?" he asked, glancing back at her as he dialed down to place their room service order.

"Yeah," she told him quietly, rubbing her hands lightly over her stomach, "she's just heavy," she said quietly, looking down at herself. She didn't know if it was because she hadn't been able to share any of this with anyone all along, or if it was because she was so glad to see a familiar face, or even if it was because Oliver had known all about it and was still willing to help her and not judge her, but she found herself wanting to tell him things. Maybe it was a mix of all of it.

He paused as the kitchen put him on hold. "I could call a masseuse," he offered. "Might help relieve some of the pressure for awhile."

"I think this bed will help a lot already," she told him quietly, smiling slightly, "thank you, though."

Oliver nodded a little. "Offer stays on the table if you change your mind at any point." He smiled faintly at her, then spoke into the phone when someone finally picked up.

Chloe listened as he ordered and sighed deeply, closing her eyes and relaxing slightly. She knew she couldn't just let Oliver take care of them, she still wanted to pull her own weight, but the fact that she had someone to lean on when she needed now, especially with the birth coming up, it was a huge relief.

"Food will be here in about an hour or so. Why don't you take a nap?" he suggested as he hung up the phone.

"No, it's okay," she told him, opening her eyes, "it's just comfortable."

Oliver sat down in one of the chairs by the bed, nodding a little as he gazed at her. "You want something to drink? Water or anything?"

"No, I can wait until the food is here," she told him, sitting up after a moment and adjusting the pillows before leaning back against them.

He let out a breath, nodding a little and rubbing his hands over his face tiredly.

Chloe pursed her lips together and watched him for a moment, only then realizing how tired he looked, "what have you been doing?"

His eyebrows furrowed at that. "What do you mean?"

"What's been going on," she said, shrugging softly, "it's been months since we talked." And when they did talk, it hadn't exactly been in the best terms.

His chest tightened a little and he looked down, shaking his head. "The usual," he said quietly, which couldn't be further from the truth. Usually two of his friends weren't missing, usually Clark wasn't up north for weeks at a time, usually he kept in touch with the other members of the league. Nothing was usual anymore.

Nodding a little, Chloe pursed her lips together, "how is Lois?" She asked quietly, her cousin had been the person Chloe wanted to tell all this to the most because despite Lois' attitude problems and bullheadedness she was still the closest thing Chloe had to a big sister.

Oliver glanced up at her once more. "She's okay," he told her. "She misses you." He paused. "A lot."

Chloe held her breath then let it out slowly, nodding as she looked down at her lap, well, her stomach, "I miss her too."

"I know." He was quiet for a few moments. "If you want to see her..."

"No," she said quickly, shaking her head, "I'm not putting her in danger."

He gazed at her intently. "And if everything turns out to be completely normal?"

"Then," Chloe took a deep breath and nodded slowly, "then I'll figure out what to tell her."

"One day at a time," he murmured, nodding a little.

Chloe nodded slightly and watched Oliver for a long moment, "I really can't thank you enough for wanting to help me, Oliver," she said honestly, lifting her head to look at him, "and for everything you've done."

He met her eyes, falling silent for a moment. "A few months ago...that stuff that happened at the Talon." He looked down, then shut his eyes. "I said some pretty terrible things to you."

"God, Oliver," she shook her head, recognizing the guilt in his expression, "don't feel bad for anything, if I had listened to you back then, things would be different now," she said sincerely, she had had a lot of time to think about this and the more she did, the more she wished she had listened to him, "I'm the one who should be apologizing to you for leading everyone into that..." she paused, looking down, "that horrible mess."

His chest tightened and he looked up at her again. "Maybe if I had been more willing to listen to what you were saying instead of just acting impulsively things would have been different, too." His voice was quiet. "I don't think there's any way we can know for sure."

"There isn't," she whispered, turning to look at him, "and the last thing I want is for you to feel bad about anything that happened," she chewed on her bottom lip for a second, "when I... planned everything, you're the only person I knew I could count on to clean up after me. And you did and I can't thank you enough for helping me."

The pain in her face hurt him to see. He let out a breath and slowly moved to sit down on the edge of her bed. "Listen." His voice was soft. "I don't know everything that happened. Obviously. But I know you had reasons to do what you did." He paused. "You and I don't see the world the way Clark does. We're realists. Things aren't black and white. All that matters to me now is that you're safe, and that I can keep you that way."

Her vision was blurry within a second and she nodded slowly, looking at him in silence for a long moment, her chest tight, "I'll tell you everything," she promised quietly, "not now, but I will, you deserve to know."

Oliver swallowed hard. "Chloe. You don't have to tell me anything. It's not why I'm here. If you want to talk about it, I'll listen. But you don't owe me anything."

"I want to tell you," she told him quietly, her eyes tearing up even more, "just not... right now."

He reached out and gently wiped a stray tear off her cheek with his thumb. "Okay," he whispered. "Whenever you're ready."

"I'm sorry," she said quietly, not pulling away from his touch, "I don't... I can't control myself."

"Don't be sorry." He tried to smile, but couldn't quite manage it. "It's all right."

Chloe nodded slightly and took a deep breath, pursing her lips together when the baby started to kick again and rubbing a hand slowly over the place where she was kicking.

His gaze followed hers and he held his breath for a moment. "She kick a lot?" he asked quietly.

"Sometimes," Chloe admitted, taking a deep breath and looking down at her stomach, "I think I woke her, or maybe I upset her." She said quietly.

His eyebrows furrowed a little at that. "Because you were upset?"

"Probably," she said, nodding and glancing at him, "she's supposed to feel everything I feel."

Oliver was quiet for a moment and he shifted a little closer to her, looking down at her stomach once more. "It's okay, Kid," he said quietly. "Try to relax. You're safe."

Chloe's face softened and she smiled very faintly, "you can feel it if you want to," she said quietly, placing her hand over the spot where the baby's supposed foot was, she could never tell if it was a hand or a foot.

He hesitated. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah," she said, nodding a little, "it's... pretty weird. Well, I'm used to it, but it's not like anything else."

He slowly reached out, covering her hand with his own and holding his breath for a moment.

Chloe pulled her hand from under his and covered his hand with hers, moving it slightly so it was directly above the spot. There was something oddly comforting about this, maybe she just hadn't been around anyone else for a while, but it was nice to be able to share something like that with him, "do you feel it?" She asked quietly, looking up at him to see his reaction.

He was about to say no when he felt a strong kick right beneath his hand and his eyes widened. "Wow!" His face lit up, a smile tugging at his mouth. "I think you've got a budding soccer player there, Sidekick."

She couldn't help but smile softly at the look on his face, she nodded a little, "I can't tell if that's her foot or her hand though," she told him, dropping her hand from over his.

"So possibly a boxer," he teased, still grinning.

"That would probably be more useful," she told him, smiling down at her stomach, "look, she's calming down..."

Without really thinking about it, he gently moved his thumb back and forth over her stomach, his expression still softer than usual. "Have you thought about names yet?" he asked curiously, glancing up at her.

Chloe relaxed against the pillows and nodded a little, "yeah... but I think I need to look at her first before I decide if the name fits her."

"Good idea," he agreed, reluctantly pulling his hand away.

Nodding a little, she looked down at her stomach, "my grandma, my dad's mom, her name was Madison, and we called her grandma Maddie, I like Maddie..." she admitted quietly, rubbing her palm against her stomach.

"It's a pretty name," he said softly, gazing at her.

"Thank you," she said quietly, lost in thought for a moment before raising her eyes to look at him, "still haven't picked a middle name, though."

He held her gaze, offering her a small smile. "You'll find one."

"I accept suggestions," she told him, smiling slightly.

Oliver raised his eyebrows. "Olivia?" he joked, grinning.

Chloe raised her eyebrows back and laughed softly, "I don't think Maddie Olivia Sullivan is a good combination, but thanks for trying," she teased.

His grin widened a little at the sound of her laughter. "I'll see what I can come up with. Maybe Jade. Or Emerald." His eyes were bright with amusement.

"You really should see someone about that green obsession, Ollie," she teased quietly, "I don't know if it's healthy."

"I'm not sure any obsession is healthy," he responded with a wink, rising to his feet as he heard the knock on the door. "Looks like our food's here."

"Oh, good," she said, relieved as she sat up a little. Her 'I could eat' earlier, actually meant, 'I'm starving because when you knocked I was about to go get food.'

Oliver opened the door and greeted the man who'd wheeled their food in on a silver cart. He thanked him, gave him a tip and wheeled the cart over toward the bed after he shut the door. "Well it smells good," he told her, raising his eyebrows.

"It does," she agreed, smiling up at him and adjusting the pillows so she was sitting up straighter against them.

He smiled back at her and pulled the covers off their plates and handed one of them to her. "Looks like they sent up water, milk and tea."

"Milk sounds good," she told him, smiling softly then shifting to the edge of the bed, she wasn't planning on getting up, but it was probably better if she ate on the couch.

He raised an eyebrow. "Where are you going?"

"To the couch?" She told him as she got up. 

"You can eat in the bed, Chloe." His voice was quiet as he watched her.

"It's okay, Ollie," she told him as she walked over to the couch, "probably better if I move around anyway."

Oliver nodded a little and picked up his own plate, moving to sit down beside her. "Whatever you think's best."

"This is a weird combination," she told him, looking down at her pizza and the greens on the side as she placed her plate on the coffee table, then picked up a broccoli and ate it. 

He chuckled a little. "Yeah, I suppose it is," he agreed.

Chloe glanced at him as she picked up a slice of pizza, "we should probably decide where we should go..."

Oliver glanced at her sideways as he took a bite of his chicken, chewing thoughtfully. "Any place you'd _like_ to go?"

"Not Metropolis," Chloe said, shrugging a little as she looked down at her food then took a bite.

"What about Star City?" he asked quietly.

Chloe glanced at him for a moment then nodded, "can be, I just don't want to come across anyone until I know for sure."

He nodded a little. "It won't be a problem," he said softly.

She took a deep breath and nodded a little, watching him for a moment, "do you mind if I have my job back?"

Oliver turned his head to look at her, his eyes a little wide. "You wanna be Watchtower again?"

"I wouldn't really be able to help the others in missions until they know I'm back," she said quietly, looking down at her plate again, her feet rubbing against the carpet nervously, "but I could help you and I could still research."

He watched her for a moment, his chest tight. "If you don't think it'd be too stressful for you and Maddie."

Chloe couldn't help but smile a little as he used the name, she took a deep breath, "I don't think it would be bad," she told him quietly, "I need to do _something_ ," not working and just sitting around had been driving her insane and on top of that, this way, she'd have some income again.

"Then welcome back," he said quietly, holding his hand out to her.

She raised her eyebrows a little and looked down at his hand, taking it and smiling softly at him, nodding, "thank you."

Oliver shook her hand and met her eyes. "Anytime."

Smiling softly still, she nodded, "I haven't had a computer for almost seven months, it's been killing me," she said, only half joking.

He grimaced a little. "Yeah, I bet. You want to use mine while we're here? Until we get you your own?"

"It's okay," Chloe assured him, "I can wait a while longer."

"If you're sure. I don't mind," he said honestly.

"Yeah, I'm sure," she smiled a little at him, "I'll probably just take a shower after we eat and knowing how I've been lately, I'll pass out in no time."

"All right," he said softly, nodding a little and picking up his plate once more. "Do you want to leave in the morning?"

"That works for me," she told him quietly, nodding as she took another bite, she didn't really care where they were, it already felt a lot safer, a lot better knowing that finally, something was changing for the better.


	4. Chapter 4

Chloe had, unsurprisingly, slept the entire flight back, woken up so they could get off of the plane and then had napped on their drive over to Oliver's penthouse. She'd been sleeping a lot more the further she got into her pregnancy, which she had been told was normal, but she guessed that for someone as addicted to caffeine as she was, it was probably even worse when she couldn't have any.

She woke up again when Oliver was just about to pull into the parking lot of his building and stretched a little, rubbing her hands over her face tiredly as she looked out the window.

Oliver glanced over at her as he parked the car a couple moments later. "We're here," he said softly, looking up at Queen tower. It had been over a year since he'd spent any real amount of time at his Star City penthouse. He just hoped he'd left it in decent condition when he'd been there last.

"Yeah," she said quietly, looking around then over at him, "I'm awake," she said quietly, looking out the window of the car before reaching for the handle.

He watched her for a moment, then climbed out of the car, moving over to her side and holding his hand out wordlessly to help her out of it.

"Thank you," she told him quietly, taking his hand as she stood up, "sorry I wasn't a very good travel company."

A smile tugged at his lips and he shook his head. "No need to apologize. I was working anyway."

"On Queen Industries stuff?" She asked curiously as she stepped aside so he could close the door.

Oliver shut the door behind her, nodding a little. "Yeah, catching up on a few things," he told her, offering his arm and looking toward the building.

"What about our bags?" She asked, looking back at the car.

"I'll come back for them once we get you comfortable," he assured her.

"I might be asleep again by the time you get upstairs," she teased, taking his arm.

He grinned at her. "If you are, you are." He winked, leading her up to the door of the building and pulling it open. "I should warn you, it's been awhile since I've been here."

"How long?" She asked curiously.

"Since I moved back to Metropolis," he admitted.

"Oh," she said, raising her eyebrows and nodding, "we'll clean and I'm sure it will be okay."

He smiled a bit at that, leading her to the elevator and waiting for the doors to open. Moments later they were on their way to the top floor of the building, a fact which he was sure didn't surprise her in the least. When the elevator stopped, he stepped forward, entering a code. "2234," he told her, glancing at her sideways. "Only people who have the code can get in the apartment."

Chloe nodded, "2234, got it," she told him, watching him then looking ahead as the doors slid open.

Oliver guided her off the elevator and across to the hall, pulling his keys out of his pocket and sliding one into the door lock. "I'll get a copy of this," he promised, opening the door and stepping into the suite. 

"Thank you," she told him quietly as they stepped inside, her eyes widening a little as she looked around, the place was at least three times the size of the Clocktower and she could only see the living room/dining room/kitchen area, although she could see a long corridor up ahead, which she guessed lead to the bedrooms. She turned around a little and looked out the glass-covered walls, she could even see the beach from there, "wow..." she said quietly.

"Make yourself at home," he said softly, watching her.

"This place is huge," she told him, walking up to the windows and looking down at the city, "I'm surprised you gave it up to move to Metropolis."

Oliver drew in a breath and let it out slowly. "Thought I was needed there," he said with a slight shrug.

"You were," she said quietly, still looking outside.

He paused at that, looking down for a moment and then back over at her, wishing he could see her expression. He had no idea what was going on in her head right then. "You want to see the rest of the place?" he asked quietly.

"Yeah," she told him quietly, turning to face him again and smiling faintly, "it looks great for a place you haven't been in in what, two years or so?"

A smile touched his lips. "Just about," he said with a nod, leading her down the hall and pointing out the various guest rooms. He paused before they reached the last three, turning to look at her. "I have a _little_ surprise," he told her before pushing open one of the doors and flipping on the light inside.

Chloe raised her eyebrows a little at that, wondering what kind of surprise he could possibly have thrown together in less than twenty-four hours considering she'd been with him the entire time. She looked up at him for a moment then took a step forward and looked inside the bedroom, her eyes widening and her chest clenching as she saw the 'little' surprise. Pursing her lips together, she glanced up at him, her eyes already tearing up, then turned to walk further into the nursery.

It was complete as far as she could tell, there was a crib, a changing station, a dresser, toys, a rocking chair, everything in soft oranges and light greens, decorated with baby animals. Everything she'd been wanting to get her baby for months now was suddenly there and she didn't even know what to say to it.

"Is it okay?" he asked uncertainly, reaching up to rub the back of his neck. It wasn't like he'd had any experience with decorating for this kind of thing. And considering she was faced away from him, he wasn't sure what to make of her reaction.

She sniffed and wiped her face in her hands then nodded at him as she turned to face him, "it's perfect."

He held his breath for a moment, and slowly moved closer to her. "Can I tell you a secret?"

Chloe nodded slowly, watching him as she willed herself to stop crying, but it was a losing battle.

"It's been done for about five months," he confessed.

She blinked a couple of times, confused as she stared at him, "why?" She whispered, her chest tight as she started to answer her own question before he could.

Oliver drew in a breath and let it out slowly. "Because this was always the plan," he told her quietly.

"What if I didn't agree to coming to Star City?" She asked quietly, watching him.

"I would've convinced you." He offered her a charming grin, raising his eyebrows.

Chloe smiled a little at that, but her chest was still tight. He had known about the baby all along, had known whose baby she was carrying all along and yet, not only had he been looking for her, but he had been planning on helping her with it. She stared at him for a long moment, then, as tears started streaming down her face again, she took a few steps forward and wrapped her arms around him tightly as well as she could.

The hug caught him off guard, but he swallowed and slid his arms around her, as well, gently rubbing her back as he rested his chin atop her head, his own chest feeling tight. He shut his eyes as he held her, his body relaxing a little for the first time in months. For awhile he hadn't even known if he'd ever actually see her again, and now she was there, with him, safe. And he intended to keep her that way, no matter what.

She held onto him for a long moment, resting her temple against his chest without really thinking about you, "you have no idea how much this means to me," she told him quietly, her voice wavering. Not only was he pulling her out of that hellhole she'd been living in, but he was offering her and her baby a place they would be safe and comfortable in and there was just not enough ways in the world for her to thank him for that.

Oliver lifted a hand to the back of her head, keeping his eyes shut. He wondered if she had any idea how much any of it meant to _him_. Somehow he doubted it. "It's not a problem," he whispered, pressing a kiss to the top of her head without really thinking about it.

Sniffing, she lifted her hand to look at him, "thank you so much, Ollie," she whispered, still holding on to him.

He looked down at her, meeting her eyes and holding his breath as he nodded. "You're very welcome." He lifted a hand to her cheek, gently wiping away a couple stray tears.

Chloe looked up at him, "I've been wishing I could have something like this for her for months," she whispered, staring up at him.

"Well, I'm glad I can help," he said softly, searching her eyes.

She pursed her lips together and nodded slowly, looking up at him still, "I can't even tell you how much it means to me," she said again, quietly, "everything you've done."

Oliver smiled, but it was faint, a trace of sadness behind it. "Come on. Your room's right next door," he told her softly.

Nodding again, she reluctantly pulled away from him and wiped her face once more as she let him lead the way.

He opened the door and flipped the light on in there. Like the living room area, it had large windows and a view of the ocean. The curtains were wispy, white and made the room look even larger than it was and giving it an airy, light appearance. "We can change anything you want," he told her with a small smile. "If you want a different color scheme or you know, whatever." He moved over to open the large walk in closet, revealing several hangers full of stylish maternity clothing.

"Oliver," Chloe said quietly, shaking her head, "you really didn't have to do all this..." she said, her voice quiet as she looked around the room then into the closet, she'd bought a couple of loose dresses, but she had felt ugly and fat in all of the maternity clothes she'd tried on, so instead, she'd been wearing leggings and long t-shirts a lot, which weren't the most flattering thing ever either, but apparently, Oliver had managed to find some pretty decent looking clothes.

"I know I didn't have to," he said just as quietly. "I wanted to, Chloe." He gazed at her. "I want you to be comfortable here."

She looked at him for a long moment and nodded, "not having to go through this alone is already a huge relief," she admitted finally, "I had no idea how I was going to manage."

"You're strong," he whispered. "Probably the strongest person I know."

"This is different," she whispered back, shaking her head, "there is so much that could go wrong."

Oliver watched her for a moment and drew in a breath before reaching out and resting his hands on her shoulders. "It could also turn out to be completely fine and normal. Let's not get ahead of ourselves," he said gently.

"Not only that," she said quietly, shaking her head, "I just kept thinking, what if I can't get to the hospital on time? What if I can't handle her when we get out of the hospital? What if there are complications and I have to have a c-section and I can barely walk around, let alone carry her?" Chloe said quietly, shaking her head again, "it's just... terrifying."

He reached up and cupped her cheek in one hand. "I'm sure it is," he said softly. "I'll do whatever I can to help you with whatever you need."

"Not being by myself," she whispered, lifting a hand to his arm, "it already helps so much."

His chest tightened and he nodded a little, hesitantly sliding his arms around her once more. "I know," he whispered.

"Thank you," she said again, she had thanked him so many times already, but it didn't feel like enough, "for finding me."

"Thank you for letting me bring you back here," he responded, rubbing her back. "And just so you know, my room's right across the hall from you so if you ever need anything in the middle of the night, I'll be there. Don't hesitate."

"I won't," she said quietly, then pulled her head back and looked up at him, "if there is anything I can help you with, please let me know."

He smiled at that, nodding. "Will do. Now, do you want to rest some more, or are you hungry?"

"I'm okay right now," she told him quietly, smiling a little, "I think I just want to go back to the nursery and see what else you got in there."

Oliver grinned at that. "All right. I'll let you get acquainted with the new place."

Chloe took a deep breath, smiling more as she saw the grin on his face, she couldn't really remember him grinning like that before, it was incredibly nice to see, "thanks," she said again.

"Not a problem. If you need anything, just yell." He winked at her and headed for the door.

She couldn't help but grin a little at that, nodding, she took a deep breath, "I will."


	5. Chapter 5

Chloe looked at her reflection in the mirror and took a deep breath, smiling slightly. She was wearing one of the maternity dresses Oliver had bought her and it fit her perfectly, she wasn't sure if it was the fact that she had his help now or the fact that she had slept extremely well that night, but she felt better about everything, she finally felt like maybe, just maybe, things were going to be okay.

That didn't mean she wasn't nervous, though. They were going to meet Emil in about five minutes in one of the Queen Industries labs that was conveniently downstairs since the penthouse sat on top of the main building for Oliver's company in Star City. Chloe was glad that the doctor had been able to make it to town so quickly, but she was afraid of how he was going to react to the news that she was going to have Davis' baby and more importantly, she was nervous about what he was going to find out.

With a deep breath, she walked out of her room and looked around the penthouse for a moment, they had had breakfast about half an hour ago and Chloe didn't know if Oliver had gone down to his office while she was getting ready, "Oliver?" She called quietly.

Oliver glanced up from where he was sitting at the kitchen table with his laptop. "Right here," he called back, shutting the screen with a small smile. He rose to his feet, taking a deep breath to try and quell his own nerves. He needed this appointment to go okay. He needed the results to be normal. Because he knew if they weren't, Chloe would take off in a heartbeat. And he couldn't let that happen.

She smiled a little when she saw him and nodded, "should we get downstairs?" She asked quietly, doing her best not to shift from foot to foot.

He nodded a little, offering her a small smile. "You look great," he told her.

"Thank you," she said quietly, holding her hands together in front of her swollen stomach, "this is really comfortable."

"Good," he said softly, holding his hand out to her. "How are you feeling?"

"You mean other than nervous?" Chloe said, smiling a little and looking over at his hand before taking it without hesitation.

"Yeah," he said, giving her hand a gentle squeeze as he led her out of the apartment and toward the elevator.

"I just want to get it over with," she told him quietly, walking with him.

Nodding a little, he guided her onto the elevator and exhaled slowly as it descended twenty floors to the lab where he knew Emil was already waiting.

Chloe glanced up at Oliver as they walked out of the elevator, she had so many things she wanted to ask Emil, but first he needed to know the truth about why he'd been suddenly summoned to Star City, "how much did you tell him?"

"That I needed him here as soon as possible for a consult for league business," he told her softly. "Is that okay?"

"Yeah," Chloe nodded, smiling a little and holding her breath as they made their way down a narrow hallway, "he'll know everything soon enough anyway."

He gave her hand another squeeze and then led her into a small exam room. "He said he'd meet us here." Oliver paused for a moment. "Do you want me to let you talk to him alone?"

"No," Chloe said sincerely, looking around the small room for a moment, "you can stay, you already know everything anyway."

He was fairly certain that wasn't true, but he simply nodded, then motioned toward a couple of chairs. "Should we sit?"

"Yeah," Chloe nodded a little and moved to sit down where he pointed, sighing deeply when she did.

Oliver sat down next to her, watching her carefully from the corner of his eye. He reached out and set his hand gently against her back.

Even though she was too nervous to notice his hand on his back, Chloe relaxed slightly at his touch, "what if it all goes wrong?" She murmured, not really aware she had said it out loud.

"It won't." His voice was just as quiet and he wasn't even sure why he'd uttered the words, but he just felt it.

Chloe blinked and looked over at him, holding her breath then opening her mouth to speak when the door opened.

The moment Emil stepped into the room and spotted Chloe, he froze. The moment he realized she was _pregnant_ , his eyes widened with surprise. "Chloe, it's been awhile."

She didn't miss the surprised look on the doctor's face, but it did make her wonder how much he knew about Davis taking her and about the fact that she had _killed_ the man. She stared at him for a moment then nodded, "yeah, it has," she agreed quietly, not knowing what else to say.

Oliver narrowed his eyes at Emil, sending him a warning look.

"What can I do for the two of you?" he asked, catching Oliver's look and straightening immediately.

Chloe also didn't miss the exchange, somehow, she felt like Oliver was suddenly more on edge than she was, so she took a deep breath and pushed herself up, she had to get this out, it would get easier after that, "I'm having Davis' baby," Chloe said as neutrally as she could bring herself to, keeping her eyes on Emil, "and... I need to make sure she won't be like him."

Emil's eyes widened just a bit at that news, but he quickly nodded. "Right. All right." He didn't dare glance at Oliver again. "Why don't you get changed and I'll come back in a couple minutes?" he suggested, holding a hospital-type gown out to her.

She let out a breath and took the gown from him then nodded a little, "thank you, Emil." She said sincerely.

"Of course," he said quietly, nodding and heading out the door once more.

Oliver rose to his feet, patting her arm gently before doing the same.

Emil blew out a breath and ran his fingers over his hair as he took a few steps down the hallway.

"This is strictly confidential," Oliver said quietly. "It goes no further than the three of us."

Clearing his throat, he nodded a little, hesitating before turning to look at Oliver, "of course."

He narrowed his eyes. "I mean it."

"I know you do, Oliver, I wouldn't tell anyone about this." Emil said sincerely.

He relaxed a little, nodding and exhaling slowly. Then he rubbed a hand over his face.

"Do you know how far along she is?" Emil asked, by the looks of her, Chloe seemed to be around seven or eight months, but she was small, so that might not be accurate.

"A bit over six months," he said quietly.

"When did you find her?" Emil asked quietly.

"Two days ago." He looked down at the floor, then shut his eyes. "In some crappy run down motel."

Emil sighed a little and shook his head, "she seems healthy."

"Well, that's part of why we're here." His voice was quiet. "To make sure." He looked up at the other man. "I think it's been awhile since she last saw a doctor. She mentioned getting checked out around month four because she wasn't feeling well and she was afraid something was wrong."

Chloe pulled the door of the room once she had changed and pursed her lips together, "I'm ready," she said, looking between the two of them.

Emil nodded at Oliver then straightened up, nodding at Chloe and starting back inside the room.

Oliver gave her a small smile and followed Emil back inside.

She had pushed herself up on the bed already as they walked into the room then adjusted herself, taking a deep breath and trying to smile at Oliver but not quite managing it, she had noticed how worried Emil looked.

Oliver moved to her side, reaching out and taking her hand, rubbing his thumb lightly over the back of it.

"All right, let's get started," Emil said, trying to smile, as well. "We'll start with a simple blood test, all right?"

Chloe glanced at Oliver gratefully then nodded at Emil, "whatever you have to do."

Nodding, Emil moved to her opposite side, tying a rubber tie around her upper arm, glancing at her uncertainly and then focusing on the task at hand. "You don't have needle fear, do you?"

"No, I'm okay," she promised, holding her breath a little, she just wanted to get it over with and get the results.

He nodded once more, drawing a syringe full of her blood and injecting it into a vial. He set the vial aside and glanced at her. "We'll just continue with a general exam for now, all right?"

"Okay," she agreed, shifting a little on the bed, "do you think my blood will be any help? I mean, wouldn't you have to take a sample of her blood?"

"We'll be doing that, too," He admitted, putting on his stethoscope and approaching her once more.

Chloe nodded a little and held her breath, that did make her nervous, the thought of her baby maybe being in pain so they could take her blood, but also, the fact that there was a possibility a needle wouldn't even be able to pierce her skin.

Oliver gazed at her, giving her hand a squeeze gently and glancing over at Emil. He watched as the other man listened to her lungs and then her heart. Watched as he moved on to taking Chloe's blood pressure and temperature, and monitoring her pulse.

"You seem very healthy," Emil said a few minutes later.

"That's what the doctors told me last time too," she told him, a little relieved.

He glanced warily at Oliver, and then looked at Chloe once more. "I'm going to need to do a pelvic. Are you okay with that?"

She held her breath and nodded a little, looking up at Emil, "like I said, do whatever you have to."

Oliver shifted his gaze to Chloe. "I'll be outside," he said softly.

Chloe pursed her lips and nodded a little, looking over at Oliver. She didn't want him to go, but she really didn't want him to be there for that.

He offered her a small smile and headed out of the room.

A long moment later, Emil stepped outside of the room and nodded at Oliver, "you can come back in."

Drawing in a breath, Oliver stepped into the room, pausing when he saw Chloe still laying on the table, a blanket over her legs and her gown pulled up, exposing her stomach. "Are you sure?" he asked uncertainly.

"Yeah," Chloe said quietly, embarrassed but if Emil saw something weird with the baby, she had no idea how she was going to react, so she wanted Oliver around, "we're doing an ultrasound next."

Oliver's eyes widened a little. " _Oh._ " He moved over to the far side of the exam table as Emil rolled the monitor closer to Chloe. "Have you done this before?" he whispered, glancing down at her.

She pursed her lips and nodded a little, "once, when I found out she was a girl." She told him quietly, "but I didn't let them look too closely."

He nodded slightly, watching curiously as Emil spread some kind of clear gel over her stomach and wondering if that was normal. He assumed so when Chloe didn't offer up any kind of protest about it.

Emil turned on the monitor and glanced at Chloe. "Are you ready?" he asked quietly.

With a deep breath, Chloe nodded a little, willing herself to relax as she laid back against the bed, her eyes going from Oliver to the monitor as Emil pressed the scanner over her stomach.

Oliver glanced down at her, then watched intently as a fuzzy picture appeared on the monitor.

Emil relaxed almost immediately, a small smile touching his mouth as he moved the scanner around a little. "Definitely a girl."

Chloe let her breath out slowly and nodded, smiling slightly, "is that her heartbeat?" She asked, keeping her eyes on the screen.

He nodded. "Yeah, it is. It's steady and normal."

Oliver stared at the screen, his eyes wide as his own heart skipped a beat. "Wow," he whispered.

She turned her head for a second, glancing at Oliver and smiling a little at the expression on his face, it was pretty priceless. She turned to look at the monitor again, "do you see anything out of the ordinary?"

Emil moved the scanner once more, watching the monitor intently. "No," he said a few moments later. "She seems to be perfectly normal."

Chloe sighed deeply, moving her hands over her face and nodding slightly, "good, that's... good and the blood test should tell us more?"

"The blood test should confirm if she's carrying any kind of non-human DNA," Emil told her.

She glanced at the doctor then nodded slightly, "then we'll know for sure."

He nodded, as well. "Would you like a copy of the sonogram?" he asked, glancing toward the screen.

"Yeah, sure," Chloe said, smiling slightly as she looked at the baby once more, "she's so much bigger than she was last time I saw her."

Emil smiled a bit at that. "They have a way of doing that," he teased, much more relaxed than he had been at the start of the exam.

Noticing he was relaxed, Chloe managed to relax too, he would probably be able to tell if there were any signs that something was wrong, even if he decided not to tell her because he didn't have proof yet, so this was definitely a good sign. "How soon until we get the results back?"

"I'll put a rush on them," he told her with a small smile. "With any luck we'll have something by the morning, if not later tonight."

"Thank you, Emil." She said sincerely, looking at him before glancing at Oliver, not missing the fact that he'd been incredibly quiet.

Oliver's eyes were still on the sonogram screen, and he didn't notice Chloe looking at him.

Emil smiled at her and then glanced at Oliver, raising his eyebrows a little. "Maybe I should print out two copies of the image."

"I think you should," she told him quietly, smiling a little as she glanced from Oliver, back at the screen.

"All right then." Amusement tugged at the corners of the doctor's mouth and he began to put away the equipment. "I'll be back shortly."

Chloe nodded then raised her eyebrows a little, watching as Emil made his way out of the room through a side door rather than back in the hallway before turning to Oliver, "you doing okay there?" She asked quietly as she pulled her gown down over her stomach.

He blinked a couple of times and looked down at her, a faint, embarrassed smile touching his lips. He rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah, it's just..."

"Kinda overwhelming," Chloe said knowingly, "I know..."

"Amazing," he said softly. "I was going to say amazing."

"Oh," she smiled softly and nodded slightly, "that's a good word for it too."

He drew in a breath and let it out slowly, carefully sliding his arm around her back to help her sit up. "Feel any better?"

"Yeah," she said quietly, "a little, Emil doesn't seem to be as concerned as he was at first."

"No," he agreed, gently rubbing her back once she was sitting up. "He seemed pretty relaxed during the ultrasound."

"Once we get the results for the blood test, we will know for sure," Chloe said quietly, mostly reassuring herself as she leaned into his touch unconsciously.

"We'll know soon," he said just as quietly, gazing at her.

"Thanks to you," she said quietly, looking up at him.

He was silent for a moment. "Chloe, you don't...you don't need to keep thanking me," he whispered.

"I know it's getting repetitive," she said quietly, "but how can I stop, with everything you're doing for us?"

"I'm doing it because I care about you. Because..." He shut his eyes for a moment.

"Because?" She pushed gently, she'd been wanting to know why he was doing so much from the moment he showed up at her door, but she'd been so grateful not to be by herself anymore, she kept pushing it off, just in case she couldn't accept anything from him anymore.

"Because I care," he echoed, his voice dropping to a whisper.

"You said that already, Ollie..." she said quietly, shifting slightly on the bed so she could look better at him.

He nodded slightly, not looking up at her.

"Tell me?" She asked in a whisper, watching him closely.

At that moment, Emil stepped back into the room. "All right, here we go. Two baby pictures for the albums," he said with a smile, moving over to the exam table and holding them out to Chloe.

Chloe blinked and looked away from Oliver when Emil walked in, "thank you," she told the doctor, taking the pictures then hesitating before holding one out to Oliver.

He glanced up, his eyebrows furrowing a little. "I get one too?" There was a hint of surprise in his voice.

"Well," Chloe tried for a smile, "you were kinda staring unblinkingly at her."

A sheepish smile touched his mouth and he reached out and took the photo, gazing down at it for a moment and then at her once more, his chest tightening.

She watched him closely, holding his gaze and searching his eyes, trying to find the answers to her previous question.

"Well, I think we're good here," Emil told them. "I'll be in touch as soon as I know anything for sure." He gazed at Chloe for a moment. "I'm glad you're safe." He smiled faintly and headed for the door.

"Thanks," Chloe called after the doctor again then took a deep breath, turning to look at Oliver once more.

"I'll step out so you can change," he said softly, offering her a small smile.

She nodded, watching as he walked out and sighing deeply as the door closed behind him. Apparently, she wasn't the only one who had been hiding something.


	6. Chapter 6

He stared blankly at the glowing green digits on his alarm clock. It was nearly 3 a.m. and he had yet to fall asleep. While Emil's confidence that Chloe's baby appeared normal was reassuring and he thought there was a good chance the other man was right, he couldn't help but worry. Because he didn't know what he would do if it turned out otherwise. Sighing softly, he sat up in bed, raking a hand through his hair and rising to his feet. He groaned a little as his tired body protested the movement, but he ignored it and quietly crept out of his room, pausing and then carefully, silently, opening the door to Chloe's room, wondering if she was able to sleep. When he didn't spot her in the bed, his chest tightened and he quickly opened the door to the nursery, pausing when he saw her at the window, sitting in the rocking chair, hands on her stomach as she rocked.

"Chloe?" His voice was very soft, not wanting to startle her.

Chloe blinked a little and turned her head toward the door, raising her eyebrows, "Oliver? Did I wake you?"

"No," he said, shaking his head as he gazed at her in the darkness, the moonlight sweeping just beyond her. "I was already awake."

"I'm too anxious to sleep," she admitted quietly, glancing out the window again.

Oliver leaned against the door frame for a long moment, then slowly stepped into the room a little farther. "You want some tea?" he asked softly.

She was quiet for a moment then took a deep breath, nodding a little, "sure."

"All right." He turned and headed for the door once again.

"Ollie, wait," she told him, shifting forward on her chair.

He paused, then turned back toward her. "Okay?" His eyebrows furrowed a little.

Chloe pursed her lips together, considering her words for a moment then shifting further toward the edge of her chair. She was worried about what the exam was going to say about her daughter's DNA, but there was something else that was bothering her, "what is it that you wouldn't tell me earlier?"

Oliver was silent for a moment. "You mean at the lab?" His voice was soft.

"Yeah," she said quietly, keeping her eyes on him.

He drew in a breath, glancing out the window. "Chloe, it's...things are complicated," he whispered.

"I know they are," she told him, chewing on her bottom lip, "and I know I have no right to ask for answers from you, but I need to know why else you're helping us, Ollie."

"Why?" His voice was so quiet, it was almost inaudible.

Chloe sighed softly and shook her head a little, "because it sounds so big and I'm afraid of what it could be and how it could affect us."

Oliver winced at that. "It's not like that," he whispered. "Chloe, I would never do anything to hurt you or Maddie."

She held her breath for a moment then pushed herself up, turning to face him, "I know you wouldn't," Chloe said quietly, "I'm not trying to accuse you of anything, but you have been doing so much, I'm just trying to understand why." She said quietly, staring up at him.

"We can't just leave it at me wanting to help out a friend?" He swallowed hard, reluctantly meeting her eyes.

"Because there is more to it," she said quietly, searching his eyes.

"But if it's nothing terrible, why does it matter?" His chest tightened a little.

Chloe took a step closer and her face softened a little, "because it seems to matter to you."

"You have enough to deal with, Chloe," he murmured. "And I'm okay."

She sighed deeply and shook her head a little, "if it's this important, I want to know, Ollie. Maybe I can help you with something for a change."

Oliver swallowed hard, looking down for a moment. "It should have been me."

"What should have been you?" She asked quietly, confused.

"Instead of Jimmy." He couldn't look at her.

Chloe stilled at the name, at _his_ name, immediately feeling overwhelmed with guilt, "it shouldn't have been _anyone_ ," she said firmly, "it wouldn't have been anyone if it wasn't for me."

"You're wrong," he whispered.

"How am I wrong, Oliver?" She asked, "I was the one who decided to help Davis, I was the one who led him to believe I had feelings for him," her stomach clenched, "do you even know why he killed Jimmy?"

Oliver shut his eyes, rubbing a hand over his face. "You were trying to do what you thought was best. For whatever reason, Chloe, you were the only one that kept him in control for as long as he was."

"And it didn't matter, none of it did," she told him, "because Davis' human side was also a monster."

He reached out, gently laying a hand on her shoulder. "Come on. Let's go to the kitchen. I'll fix some tea."

"No," she shook her head, "I won't have you feeling guilty for something you had absolutely no guilt in," she told him, searching his eyes, "Jimmy and I were talking and Davis heard me telling Jimmy I was just trying to keep him under control and then, all of the sudden, before we even realized Davis was awake," she whispered, looking away as her stomach clenched and her eyes got teary, "next thing I knew, Jimmy had a pipe through his stomach and Davis was dragging me," Chloe continued, her eyes widening as she looked up at Oliver, "he was going to kill me too, the only reason he didn't was because I told him I was pregnant."

With a deep, shaky breath, she held his gaze, "none of it was your fault."

His chest tightened more with every word she spoke, his own eyes glassy. "I'm so sorry, Chloe," he whispered, his voice strained. "I wish I'd been there. I wish I'd gone with you when you left the docks that night with Jimmy." He swallowed hard. "I'm just sorry."

She shook her head, tears running down her cheek, "don't," she whispered, shaking her head again and looking up at him, "it's over," she told him quietly, "he's dead."

Oliver hesitantly shifted closer to her, winding his arms around her and pressing a kiss to her temple.

Chloe stepped closer to him, wrapping her arms as tightly as she could around him as she cried silently, "please don't blame yourself."

He rubbed her back with one hand, holding her close but not as tight because he didn't want to hurt her. "Maybe we just...have to focus on moving forward," he whispered.

She nodded slightly, lifting her head to look up at him and sniffling a little.

"I'm sorry I made you cry." He leaned his forehead against hers.

"It's okay," she assured him, "I-- I need to tell you everything anyway."

Oliver closed his eyes, taking a slow deep breath. "When you're ready." His voice was quiet.

"Thank you," she said quietly, tip toeing and without thinking about it, she pressed a kiss to his cheek.

The breath caught in his throat at her actions, his heart beating a little more quickly. "Welcome," he murmured. "We uh...we should go do that tea thing."

Chloe sighed deeply and nodded, reluctantly pulling back from him, "yeah..."

He swallowed hard, still feeling the gentle impression of her lips against his cheek. "Come on." He reached down and took her hand in his, leading her toward the door.

She wrapped both her hands around his and took a deep breath as she followed, not surprised when she felt the baby kicking again, sometimes she wondered if she kicked her when she was upset to tell her to stop being sad or to remind her she was there and to try and comfort her.

* * *

Hours later found them seated at the small dining room table that he couldn't remember using before she'd come with him to Star City. He cradled a cooling cup of tea in his hands, his eyelids drooping a little involuntarily. He blew out a breath, taking a sip and looking at the clock on the wall. Nearly 8 a.m. Chloe looked as tired as he felt, and worry niggled at him. It wasn't good for her or for the baby to not get a decent amount of sleep. He was about to suggest that she try to lie down for awhile when the telephone rang, shattering the relative silence of the apartment.

He was on his feet instantly, grabbing the phone in one hand. "Hello?"

Chloe had been leaning against her chair, nearly asleep when the phone rang and she sat up, her eyes wide as she looked up at Oliver, not bothering getting up, she was exhausted so she wanted to save as much energy as she could.

"Oliver?" Emil said.

"Yes," he answered, raising his eyebrows at Chloe.

Emil paused for a long moment, "I got the test results from the lab five hours ago and I have been analyzing the results and the sample since." He paused, "her DNA string doesn't match Davis'."

"Not at all?" he asked, moving over to where Chloe was still sitting at the table. "Emil, I'm going to put you on speaker phone so Chloe can hear." He pulled the phone away from his ear and pressed the speaker button.

Chloe nodded at Oliver and took a deep breath, holding her hands together.

"Not at all, her DNA is completely different from Davis'," Emil repeated for Chloe's sake, "however, there is a mutation in it."

"What does that mean?" he asked, his chest tightening a little.

Her eyes widened even more, and she remained quiet even as her vision instantly got blurry, it didn't matter what it meant, it meant her baby could turn into a monster like Davis more than likely and that meant she couldn't stay.

"I'm not entirely sure yet," Emil said, "but Chloe, you carry the same mutation she does."

Oliver's eyebrows furrowed, and he shook his head. "Wait--what?"

Chloe blinked a few times and looked over at the phone, "what do you mean?" She asked, frowning a little.

"Whatever mutation she has, the gene was passed down by you," Emil explained.

"Chloe's human," Oliver pointed out, frowning, his stomach tightening as he realized that the doctor might be trying to tell them that the baby had some kind of genetic disease.

"Meteor infected," Chloe breathed after a long moment, realizing then that neither men knew about her dormant power, "Emil, could the mutation be due to meteor infection?"

"As a matter of fact, that's exactly what it appeared to be. I wasn't aware that you were meteor-infected, however." There was a hint of confusion in Emil's voice.

Oliver held his breath, gazing at Chloe intently. He hadn't been aware of it either.

"My power didn't manifest itself until about three years ago," Chloe explained, avoiding Oliver's gaze and focusing on the phone, "and it became dormant again after I was infected by Brainiac."

His chest tightened and he looked down at the table silently, staring at the phone, as well.

"I see. Well, as I said, it is a mutation that matches yours very closely, but not exactly. Meaning while she got the gene from you, her power will likely be different from whatever yours was. Whether or not it will remain dormant I honestly don't know."

"Right," Chloe said quietly, rubbing her hands over her face, "but even if she has a power, is there any chance she will turn into what Davis was?"

"No," Emil said without hesitation. "There are no traces of alien DNA in her blood at all. She's completely human."

"Thank you, Emil," she said quietly, "I might be able to hack into my old system and get you some files on more meteor infected people so we can compare notes and make sure there is nothing wrong with her."

"That would be good, but by all accounts at this point, meteor infection aside, she's completely healthy. Everything else was normal. Her growth rate is normal, her heart and her lungs are clear, and there are no other signs that anything is wrong."

"So I shouldn't be too concerned?" Chloe asked quietly.

"Nothing to be worried about for now." The doctor agreed.

"Thank you," she told him tiredly.

"You're welcome, let me know if you have any questions, I'll drop by the exam results later." Emil said.

"I will, thank you." Chloe said again before hanging up. Swallowing hard, she looked at the phone for a moment before lifting it toward Oliver and finally turning her head to look at him.

He didn't quite meet her eyes. "So that's good news, right?" His voice was quiet.

"Yeah," she whispered quietly, dropping her hands and her gaze to her stomach once Oliver had his phone back, "I hadn't even considered the possibility..." she murmured.

He turned away, setting the phone on the counter, his chest still tight. "Still a lot better than the alternative."

"It is," Chloe agreed quietly, rubbing her hands slowly over her stomach soothingly for a long moment before turning her head up to look at him, "still seems to be freaking you out as much, though."

Oliver paused at that, and turned to look at her, his expression one of disbelief. "You think I'm freaked out?"

"Aren't you?" She asked quietly, watching him.

Hurt flickered over his expression and he wondered if that's why she had never told him she was meteor-infected. "Chloe, the team I put together is, with the exception of me, made up of people who have abilities and superpowers."

Her chest tightened at the hurt on his face, but she shook her head slightly, "they are meta-humans, Oliver, not meteor-infected," she said quietly, "their abilities are natural mutation, not an infection."

"Semantics," he told her with a frown. "Just because someone has a meteor infection doesn't make them evil. Obviously." He gazed at her intently.

Chloe sighed softly and shook her head, "no, but it can make them unstable and depending on the power, it might make her life incredibly hard," she added, her voice cracking a little as she thought of her mom.

Oliver paused, watching her intently for a long moment. "Like your mother."

She pursed her lips together and nodded slightly, looking up at him.

"But not everyone with a meteor infection has that kind of trouble." He gazed at her. "You don't."

"No," she agreed quietly, holding his gaze, "but I don't want her ability to be anything like mine either."

He hesitated for a moment, not even sure she'd tell him. "What was your ability?"

Chloe took a deep breath and leaned back against her chair, "the best way I can explain it is empathic healing," she told him quietly, "I healed people by taking their injuries upon myself, except, if they were really bad, sometimes it could take me awhile to heal myself, and I would appear dead for however long it took my body to recharge."

Oliver gaped at her. "You... _what_?"

"I think my healing them was mostly me transferring my energy to their body, it drained me." She said quietly, watching him, "and I could feel the pain they were feeling until it was too much for me to handle and I blacked out."

His chest felt tight and he opened his mouth to speak but couldn't find the words. What were you supposed to say to someone who had just informed you that her superpower was healing other people at the cost of her own health--and even her life?

"I'm sorry you didn't know about this before," she told him, wanting to fill in the silence because the way he was looking at her, it was making her uncomfortable, "but now do you see why I wouldn't want something like that for her? Meteor powers aren't like meta-human powers, Oliver, there is always a catch."

After a long moment, he rubbed a hand over his face wearily. "Okay, but we don't know for sure if she'll even _have_ a power. It may just stay dormant," he said, his voice quiet. "And if it turns out she does have some kind of ability, we'll figure out how to help her."

Chloe's chest tightened at the 'we' part of his sentence and she nodded a little, "yeah," she whispered quietly, "you're right," she said quietly.

He gazed at her once more, his expression softening a little. "Are you okay?"

She nodded slightly and pushed herself up, "yeah," she whispered, rubbing a hand against her face, "at least this we can deal with and we might be able to find a way around it if her ability is hurting her."

Nodding, as well, he drew in a breath and let it out slowly. "All right." His voice was quiet. "You should get some sleep, Chloe."

Chloe nodded slightly and took a deep breath too, "yeah, you should too," she told him quietly, looking at him.

He offered her a faint smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. "I uh--I have to be downstairs for a meeting in about an hour, so I'll have to catch a nap later." Not likely, really, but sometimes it was nice to pretend.

She watched him for a moment then nodded a little, she knew he wasn't going to, but she really didn't have the energy to insist, "okay," she told him quietly.

He stepped closer to her, reaching out and taking her hand and squeezing it gently. "Everything's okay. So rest. If you need anything, don't hesitate to call my cell. Okay?"

Chloe nodded slightly, looking at him for a moment and giving his hand a gentle squeeze back, "okay," she said again, "I'll see you later." She said in a whisper before letting go of his hand and starting down the hallway. She knew this was a much better outcome than it could have been, her daughter would be healthy and relatively normal, for some time anyway, but now, on top of worrying about which meteor power she would have and how it would manifest itself, she had the guilt of knowing it was _her_ fault her daughter would probably have to deal with this during some point in her life.

Oliver exhaled slowly as he watched her go, his stomach tightening once more. He knew she wasn't okay with this either, but there was nothing that could be done. There was no way he could help with this. Not really. Rubbing a hand over his face, he headed to his bedroom to get changed for his meeting.


	7. Chapter 7

It was late when Oliver returned from patrolling that night. Nearly two in the morning, in fact. He had been hesitant to even go in the first place, hesitant to leave Chloe's side at all--even to go to work at Queen Industries. But he reasoned that she had his cell number if she needed anything, and he _was_ just right downstairs. Plus his security system was top of the line. No one even knew she was with him, so it wasn't like anyone was going to come looking for her. In fact, no one even knew he was back in Star City except his employees, so no one was really going to attempt looking for him there either.

He wasn't surprised that she hadn't called while he was working. He knew her well enough to know she wasn't going to call for help unless she really needed something. And even then she'd hesitate.

He'd found her still asleep when he'd returned from a full day at the office. He'd gone about doing some research for non-QI business, and then had made a dinner of vegetable soup, figuring it would be something tasty and healthy that she could eat, but she slept right through dinner, too. When it got later in the evening, he'd suited up, and headed out on patrol, leaving her a note to let her know where he was going, that he still had his phone with him, and that there was soup in the fridge if she was hungry.

However, when he stepped into the apartment after finishing up a long night of patrol and was met with silence, worry took hold of him. He knew she was exhausted, but sleeping for over fifteen hours wasn't normal, and he wasn't even sure it was healthy. Not changing out of his uniform, he quietly opened the door to her bedroom and stepped inside, gazing down at her with worry. He leaned over her, listening to the sound of her steady, even breathing. He exhaled slowly, raking a hand through his hair and then moving toward the door once again. If she wasn't up by the time he woke up for work in five hours, he'd wake her then.

Chloe stirred slightly in her sleep when she felt movement around her, frowning slightly, she saw Oliver moving toward the door, "Oliver?" She called quietly, her voice heavy with sleep.

He paused in the doorway, turning to look at her. "Go back to sleep," he whispered.

"What time is it?" She asked quietly, rubbing her hands over her face as she turned to lay on her back.

"A little after two," he told her.

"In the morning?" She asked, frowning, the room was far too dark for it to be in the afternoon.

Oliver nodded slightly. "Yeah."

"Oh," she whispered, pushing herself into a sitting position.

"Are you all right?" he asked after a moment. "I made dinner earlier if you're hungry. I can go heat it up for you."

"I'm okay," she said quietly, shaking her head and pushing herself up off of the bed, "go to bed."

"You haven't eaten anything today," he pointed out.

"I'll eat," she promised quietly as she got up, "but you should go get some rest."

Oliver grew silent for a moment. "All right," he said just as quietly, rubbing a hand over his face and heading across the hall to his bedroom.

Chloe watched him as he walked into his own room then took a deep breath, she wanted to take a long bath, but first, she needed some food, she was starving.

He unzipped his vest, turning to glance at her once more. "I made vegetable soup," he told her quietly. "I don't know if you even like vegetable soup." He swallowed hard.

She paused at that, her chest tightening a little, he had actually _made_ her dinner, she couldn't remember the last time anyone had cooked anything for her, "that sounds great, thank you."

He relaxed a little, and offered her a small, faint smile. "No problem."

Chloe took a deep breath and watched him for a second, "sorry about earlier," she said sincerely, "I was freaked out and exhausted and I wasn't expecting that at all."

Oliver's eyebrows furrowed. "You don't need to apologize to me, Chloe," he said with confusion. "You didn't do anything wrong."

Shrugging slightly, Chloe nodded, "yeah, but I was ready to just shut you out and that's not right, not when you're so willing to help us and you've been so great."

He was quiet for a moment. "Look...you don't owe me anything," he said softly. "I don't want you to feel obligated to do things or tell me things because you think I'll be upset if you don't. I'm not doing this to get anything back, Chloe. So don't worry about it."

"I didn't mean it like that," she told him quietly, looking at him for a moment, "I'm just really glad to have your support and I don't want you to feel like I'm not, because it really does mean a lot to me."

"I know it does," he said just as quietly, shaking his head. "And that's enough for me."

Chloe nodded slightly, trying for a small smile, "you should get some sleep."

Oliver watched her for a moment, then nodded slightly. "I hope you like the soup." He managed a faint smile before heading to the bathroom connected to his bedroom.

"Goodnight," she called quietly, watching the door close before she made her way down the hall and to the kitchen, she was sure she was going to love the soup no matter what it tasted like, she just needed to eat.

* * *

Somehow Oliver managed to pull himself out of bed when his alarm went off at 6:30 that morning. He winced as the hot water hit the fresh scrapes on his back, and he showered as quickly as he could before getting out and getting dressed. He glanced toward the bedroom door across from him, pausing momentarily but shaking his head as he moved down the hallway quietly, not wanting to wake her if she was asleep. He paused again as he spotted her in the living room. "Hey." He raised his eyebrows a little, and smiled faintly as he headed into the kitchen. 

"Hey," Chloe said quietly, setting down the book she'd been reading over her stomach as she looked over at him, surprised he was already awake. 

"Want some breakfast?" he asked as he pulled open the fridge door and pulled out the container of orange juice.

With a deep breath, Chloe shook her head a little, "I just had my third bowl of soup about half an hour ago, thank you."

An amused smile tugged at his lips at the admission. "I guess it was okay then." His voice was light.

"It was really good," she admitted, smiling softly as she cocked her head to look over at him, "I didn't know you could cook."

He nodded a little, glancing at her over his shoulder as he poured himself a glass of juice. "It's been awhile, but I actually kind of enjoy it," he told her.

"What else can you make?" Chloe asked curiously.

"As long as I have a recipe?" He shrugged a little. "Why? Have something in mind for dinner?" He smiled at her.

"Not really," Chloe said, raising her eyebrows a little and smiling softly, "but that whole thing of soup might be gone by the time you get back."

Oliver chuckled involuntarily. "Feel free. It's what it's there for."

She set her book aside and stood up stretching her back a little as she did, "do you have any work I can do?"

He took a long drink of his orange juice. "If you feel like doing some research."

"Yeah," Chloe nodded, raising her eyebrows a little as she walked up to him, "what are you working on?"

Setting the empty glass down in the sink, he turned to face her, breath catching in his throat as he found her green eyes on him intently. "Um, nothing big really. Just...looking for any other possible 33.1-like facilities."

She nodded, taking a deep breath and smiling a little, "I can do that, do you mind if I borrow your laptop? I want to order one for myself too."

"Actually..." He smiled sheepishly and moved past her, out toward his desk, then leaned down, picking up a box and holding it up. "I already did that. It's top of the line. And by top of the line I mean Vic installed a ton of stuff on it already. Feel free to alter whatever you want, though."

"Oh," her face softened a little and she shook her head, "you shouldn't have done that too, Ollie, but thank you," she told him, reaching for the box and looking down at it before looking up at him again, "what did you tell Vic?"

"I didn't say anything about you," he said quietly. "I just said I needed a new one and wanted it with all the components necessary for league-affiliated business."

"I figured you wouldn't have," Chloe said quietly, setting the laptop down on the dining room table, and staying quiet for a moment, "I think I'm going to call Lois."

Oliver paused at that, his chest tightening a little. "Oh."

"If Maddie won't be a danger," Chloe said quietly, not even noticing she was using the name, "I have no reason to keep worrying her."

He nodded a little, swallowing. "Right. And she's your family."

"Yeah, I just need to figure out how to... tell her what happened without telling her everything." She whispered.

He looked down at the floor for a long moment. "She's going to want to see you."

"I know," she said quietly, looking over at him, "would you mind if she stayed here for a couple of days? I don't think she will want to be gone longer than that but..."

"Of course not," he murmured. "She's welcome as long as she wants to be here and you want her here." 

Chloe paused for a moment, watching him closely, "are you okay?"

Oliver glanced up at her. "I'm fine, Chloe."

"Is something upsetting you?" She asked cautiously.

He shook his head. "Just tired," he told her, forcing a small smile. "Dreading a couple meetings today."

She didn't really believe him, but she wasn't about to push him, so she wrinkled her nose, "the kind that takes all day?"

He grimaced. "The kind that's pretty likely to." He sighed softly. "Will you be okay here again?"

"Yeah," she told him, "I'll start working on the 33.1 stuff and if I get bored, I might walk over to the beach later."

Oliver's chest tightened a little but he nodded. "Sounds good. Just...be careful." His voice grew softer.

She looked at him for a long moment, trying to read the subtle cues she was getting from his expression and body language, "you know I'm not just taking off on you, right?" She said quietly, "I have no reason to."

He paused, vaguely surprised that she'd been able to read him that well. "I know," he whispered. "I just want to make sure you two are safe." Because he hadn't done a very damn good job about making sure of that before.

"We will be," Chloe said quietly, taking a step closer to him, "there is no one after us, and now it doesn't really matter if one of the guys or Lois finds out I'm pregnant because I don't have to protect you guys from her," she whispered, lifting a hand to her stomach.

Oliver nodded slightly, looking down at her stomach. "How's she doing?" he murmured, his voice soft.

"Okay," Chloe said quietly, "moving around a lot, I think I bored her with sleeping so much."

A smile tugged at his lips at that. "You both needed it."

"Yeah, I know," she smiled softly, rubbing her stomach as she felt the baby moving again, "she must have slept almost the entire time too because I usually wake up when she starts to move."

"You've been through a lot," he said quietly. "If you don't feel up to working, that's fine. There's no big emergency. Just relax and take it easy."

"Do you not know me?" Chloe asked, smiling a little.

He gazed at her and nodded slightly. "Right. Good luck with the research then." He smiled faintly.

"Thanks," she told him quietly, walking over to the dining room table again and starting to pull her new laptop out of the box, "good luck with your meetings."

Oliver nodded once, watched her for a moment and headed for the door. "If you need anything--"

"I'll call," she promised, smiling a little at him and nodding.

He smiled faintly once more and headed out the front door.

Chloe watched until he left the apartment then her face fell and she sighed deeply, she had to find out what was going on with him and figure out a way to help him because he was obviously not doing okay.


	8. Chapter 8

She had managed to gather quite a bit of information on possible 33.1 facilities that, despite Lex being gone, seemed to be active. And then she napped for about three hours, ate again because as delicious as Oliver's vegetable soup was, it didn't seem to keep Maddie satisfied for very long, then took a shower and changed, she was about write Ollie a note, letting him know she was going to the beach for a while, when she heard the elevator reaching the top floor and paused, stilling and looking in the direction of the door expectantly.

Oliver blew out a breath as he stepped into the apartment, his jacket already off and slung over one arm. He paused as he caught sight of her in the middle of the room. "Hey." There was a hint of uncertainty in his voice.

"Hey," she said, relaxing a little when she saw him, "I didn't think you'd be back so early."

He glanced at the clock. "I guess it is early," he murmured, stepping out of his shoes.

"I was just about to go over to the beach," she told him quietly, watching him closely, "why don't you change into something more comfortable and come with me?"

Oliver glanced up at her, a hint of surprise on his face. "Are you sure? You don't want some space?"

"I was by myself all day," she told him, "c'mon, but hurry, I don't wanna miss the sunset."

A small smile touched his mouth and he nodded. "Be right there." He headed down the hall toward his room, shedding his slacks and button door shirt in favor of a pair of jean shorts and a tank top. Then he headed toward her once more, looking a little more relaxed. "Ready?"

Chloe had spent the entire day trying to think of ways to get Oliver to relax and open up to her, but she hadn't had a single good idea and then this opportunity sounded like the perfect way to get him to relax. She paused when he walked back in, raising her eyebrows a little, she had never seen Oliver dressed in something so... normal before, it was either suits, dress shirts or his favorite green leather outfit, but oddly enough this fit him really well, "Wow, I never realized just how California you look..." she teased.

Oliver grinned at that and shrugged. "Well you're not used to seeing me in my natural habitat."

"I guess I'm not," she told him, smiling softly, "do you usually dress like that around here?"

He glanced down at his clothes. "Well, it is when I go to the beach." He smiled at her.

"I like it," she told him, holding her hand out to him, "it's a lot more laid back than you usually look."

Oliver met her eyes, then reached out and slid his fingers through hers. "Well, maybe I'll try to be more laid back than usual."

"I think that's a good idea," she told him quietly, holding his gaze and smiling softly.

He smiled back, nodding a little. "Better get out there before the sun sets without us."

"Yeah," Chloe nodded, giving his hand a light squeeze then tugging him toward the elevator with her, "c'mon."

He couldn't help but grin at her enthusiasm as he followed her.

She paused once they were in the elevator and smiled softly up at him, determined to make him feel better, "how were your meetings?"

He made a face. "About like you'd expect a four and a half hour board meeting to be," he joked. "Like the seventh circle of hell."

"Ouch," Chloe said, making a face, "four and half hours? You need a drink."

He chuckled. "I wouldn't protest one," he admitted.

"I'll gladly keep you company while I sip on a soda," she told him, smiling softly as she leaned against the back of the elevator.

Oliver glanced at her, then down at their still joined hands and smiled. "I'll never protest the company."

Chloe watched him closely and nodded slowly, smiling, he was definitely a lot more relaxed and that was a good start, "I guess we have plans after the beach, then."

"And I can either cook or we can order something in. Whatever sounds good." He met her eyes, still smiling.

"You've had a long day," she told him, watching him closely and smiling softly, "we can order something."

"Well, the good news is that they deliver just about any kind of food you might be hungry for here in Star City." He grinned at her.

"I'll talk to the boss," she said, patting her stomach with her free hand, "see what she feels like having when we're ready to eat."

"How is the boss doing tonight? Less restless?" he asked, glancing down at her stomach.

"Yeah," she told him, "we napped a little in the afternoon and showered, showering always calms her down."

Oliver looked up at her, swallowing hard at the very vivid mental image he suddenly had. That was it. He was definitely going to hell. Do not pass go, do not collect two hundred dollars. Straight to hell--that seventh circle--where he'd forever be stuck in board meetings.

She paused and raised her eyebrows a little at the expression on his face, "are you okay?"

He nodded quickly. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine."

Chloe frowned a little and shrugged, tugging on his hand when the elevator doors slid open, "c'mon," she told him, pulling him toward the beach.

He drew in a deep breath and followed her, his chest tight. Things were definitely becoming even more complicated than they already had been.

They made it to the sand a couple minutes later and Chloe was glad the beach was so close because she wouldn't have wanted to walk much further. Once they found a good spot, she looked up at him, then at the floor and back, "I'll probably need help getting down..."

Oliver offered her a soft smile and nodded. "Not a problem," he assured her, sliding an arm around her back. "Just lean into me."

Chloe nodded and wrapped an arm around him, leaning into him then bending her knees slowly and making her way to the sand until she was sitting in it and nodding, "okay, I'm good."

He dropped down onto the sand beside her, reluctantly removing his arm from around her and looking out over the ocean, exhaling slowly.

"Thanks for coming with me," she said quietly, adjusting her dress over her lap then looking over at him and smiling softly.

"Thanks for inviting me," he said without hesitation, glancing sideways at her.

Nodding, she smiled at him for a moment then shrugged, looking ahead to the ocean, "I think we both spent enough time alone lately."

He watched her for a few seconds, then followed her gaze. "I think we've both spent enough time alone, period."

Chloe nodded a little and placed her hands on her stomach, taking a deep breath as she thought about it, "I can't argue with that."

He fell silent for a long time. "Did you uh--did you call Lois?"

"No," she said quietly, mostly because she felt like Oliver wasn't ready to bring anyone else into this, for whatever reason, but also, "I didn't know what to say..."

"I think you could probably tell her the truth for the most part," he said quietly.

"Maybe," she told him, turning to look at him, "but she will want to know why I didn't call her for help, I know she will and I can't exactly tell her what I was so afraid of."

He grimaced a little, closing his eyes. "I don't think that...she'll question that, Chloe," he whispered.

"I don't know," she told him, dropping her hands behind her back to the and and leaning back against her arms, "what do you think she will do?"

Oliver rubbed a hand over his face. "Chloe, there's something you don't know."

She frowned a little and turned over to look at him, watching him quietly.

"Lois was missing for awhile," he admitted quietly, not looking at her. "While you were gone. About the same time that everything that...happened, happened."

Her eyes widened and she sat up, looking over at him, "what? where was she?"

He shook his head a little. "I don't know. She didn't remember anything."

"Is she okay?" Chloe asked, now visibly concerned.

"As far as I know," he said softly, glancing over at her finally. "I know she's back at the Planet."

"Have you seen her at all since she showed back up?" She asked him, frowning.

He looked away again, blowing out a breath. "Once."

"What did she say? How long was she gone?" Chloe asked urgently, frowning hard, suddenly feeling guilty that she didn't even _know_ her cousin was missing.

Oliver reached over and rested a hand on her arm. "A few weeks. The last thing she remembered was having some kind of throw-down at the Planet with Tess Mercer." He paused. "And then seeing Clark at the hospital. Apparently he'd found her on a train that was in the process of derailing."

"She wasn't hurt or anything?" She asked, looking at him as the baby suddenly started to kick.

"She was all right," he said softly. "Her blood sugar was a little low, but other than that, she was fine."

Chloe blew out a breath and nodded a little, cupping her stomach and rubbing it to soothe the baby, "I can't believe I didn't even know she was missing."

"I'm sorry," Oliver murmured, letting his hand fall away from her arm. "I just--there was so much going on, I didn't want to add to your plate."

"This isn't your fault, Oliver," she said quietly, shaking her head, "I was so wrapped up with my own life, I didn't even consider what might be going on with everyone else," she told him, her voice quiet but filled with anger.

"Hey." His voice was quiet, but sharp as he turned to look at her. "You had a pretty good reason to be wrapped up in your life, Chloe. You were alone, and pregnant, and terrified."

Her eyes teared up a little as she turned to look at him, shaking her head, "I should have at least checked in."

"Chloe." Instantly his voice dropped and he felt like he'd been kicked in the stomach. He reached out and cupped her face in one hand without thinking about it. "Don't do this to yourself. You've been through enough. And Lois _will_ understand."

She looked up at him, her eyes big as she leaned into his touch, her chest and jaw still tight.

He gazed at her intently, his own chest tightening at the expression on her face. "I should have told you sooner."

"This isn't your fault, Oliver," she told him, taking a deep breath and covering her stomach with her hand as the baby kept on kicking, "stop blaming yourself."

Oliver looked away, dropping his hand from her cheek and holding his breath for a long moment. "When we get back, why don't you call her?" His voice was quiet. "I can fly her out here."

Chloe nodded slightly and took a deep breath, "I will," she told him, "but you need to stop blaming yourself for things."

He gave her a wry look.

"I'm serious, Oliver, none of it is your fault, nothing that happened to me is your fault," she said seriously, "why do you keep thinking differently?"

"I was just making a non-verbal comment about the irony of you telling me not to blame _myself_ ," he told her.

Chloe sighed and shook her head, looking away from him and still rubbing her stomach. No matter what he said, she knew she had no one but herself to blame for Jimmy's death.

"Let's just...try and relax while we're out here," he whispered. "That was the point, right?"

She took a deep breath and nodded a little, looking over to the ocean again then, shifting a little and rubbing her hand in circles against her stomach.

He glanced at her. "How's your back?"

"It's okay," she said quietly, "but she won't stop kicking again."

Oliver hesitantly lifted a hand toward her stomach. "Can I--?"

Sighing softly, she nodded a little, dropping her hand to the side of her stomach.

He shifted closer to her, gently resting his hand on her stomach. "Hey, Maddie. Everything's okay," he murmured. "Take it easy in there."

Chloe watched him as he spoke to her stomach, taking a deep breath and starting to relax as she placed her hand on his arm, brushing her thumb against his skin without really thinking about it.

"We're gonna keep you safe," he whispered, consciously aware of her hand on his arm. "I promise."

"I think I keep upsetting her," Chloe whispered, looking down at her stomach too, "I'm sorry."

"Just remember to take deep breaths," he murmured, glancing up at her. "She's okay, Chloe. She's strong like you."

She took a deep breath without even realizing she was doing and nodding slightly as she squeezed his arm gently and nodded, "she is."

Oliver drew in a breath and let it out slowly, offering her a soft smile.

Chloe smiled back at him then paused, blinking a couple of times and looking down at her stomach quickly as a sudden urge to lean in and press her lips to his took over her out of nowhere.

His eyebrows furrowed as she quickly looked away from him and he swallowed hard, reluctantly pulling his hand away from her.

She held onto his arm and shook her head a little, glancing up at him, "don't, she's... calmer."

Oliver glanced at her again and then rested his hand on her stomach once more. "That's kind of odd, isn't it?"

Chloe shrugged a little and shook her head, "I don't know, but, she never had anyone talking to her but me, maybe she likes hearing a different voice."

"Oh," he whispered, gently moving his thumb over her stomach. "Have you ever done that thing with the headphones? Let her listen to music?" he asked curiously.

"No," she said quietly, watching him closely, "do you think she'd like that?"

"Maybe. We could get her some. Let her listen to different types, classical, opera, nothing profane, of course." He glanced up at her.

Chloe smiled a little at that and nodded a little, "no country," she teased quietly.

He grinned. "No, definitely not. Too depressing."

"That and I will shoot myself if she decides she likes country, it was all Clark listened to," she told him quietly, "too much of it when I was in Smallville."

His smile slipped a little at the mention of Clark's name. "Right," he murmured.

"We'll try the music," Chloe said quietly, not noticing the look on his face as she stared at his hand on her stomach, "but I think she just likes you."

"Maybe," he said just as quietly, looking down at her stomach once more, as well.

She gave his arm another squeeze then blinked a little, realizing that it was a lot darker already, almost completely dark, "oh..."

"What's wrong?"

"We missed the sunset," she told him quietly, looking at the ocean then back at him.

Oliver looked up, surprised. "Oh."

Chloe looked at him and pursed her lips together, "I guess we will have to try again tomorrow."

"Yeah," he agreed softly. "We should probably head back."

"Yeah," she said quietly, watching him closely.

He shifted closer to her, gently winding his arm around her waist. "I'll help you up."

"Thank you," she told him, holding on to him and getting up slowly, ignoring the part of her that wished she had more excuses to be close to him like this.

"No problem," he murmured, gazing down at her for a moment and swallowing hard.

She held his gaze and tightened her arms around him a little, pursing her lips together.

Oliver held his breath for a long moment, watching her. "You hungry?"

"Yeah," she said quietly, searching his eyes, she knew there was absolutely no way he was attracted to her, especially not when she was huge and gross, but that didn't mean she couldn't enjoy the closeness, "you?"

He nodded very slightly, not pulling away from her. "What uh--what sounds good to you and the boss?" He smiled a little.

Chloe shrugged a little and wrinkled her nose, "do you happen to know of any places that deliver fried okra?"

A short chuckle escaped him and he wound his arm around her back, turning them toward his building. "Believe it or not, I actually do."

"Really?" Chloe asked, her eyes widening a little, keeping an arm around him as they started to walk back.

"Really," he promised, keeping her close to him. "Stick with me long enough and you might just be pleasantly surprised."

"I already am," she told him quietly, laying her head on his shoulder and letting out a breath, "you're amazing."

Oliver turned his head and kissed her forehead softly.

She hugged him softly and without thinking about it, turned her head and pressed a kiss to his cheek.

He swallowed hard, but smiled softly at the kiss. "I'm glad you're here, Sidekick." His voice was quiet.

"I'm glad to be here," she said sincerely, leaning her head against his shoulder again, "and I'm even happier to be here with you," she told him quietly, because the more she thought about it, the more she knew Oliver would probably be the most understanding person out of all of them, especially when it came to what she had to do to Davis.

"Well. You'll always have a place here," he whispered, almost inaudibly.

"Like I said earlier," she whispered quietly, "I don't plan on going anywhere."

He pulled her a little closer, nodding slightly. "Good."

"For as long as you want us around, anyway," Chloe told him quietly, the thought that Oliver might get tired of having a baby around soon did occur to her and although he'd been surprising her all the time with how... fascinated he seemed to be when it came to all things baby, she had to consider the possibility, just in case.

"Then I guess we should consider getting you some more clothes and things." He glanced at her sideways. "Because I'm afraid you're stuck with me."

Chloe lifted her head to look at him and pursed her lips together, "are you sure?"

Oliver paused and turned so he was facing her. Then he reached out and placed his hands on her shoulders, gazing at her intently. "Completely," he said quietly.

She held his gaze for a moment and relaxed slightly, he meant it, at least for now, and that was good enough for her, "even when I ask you to change diapers?"

A smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. "You'll have to teach me how."

"I'll have to learn how first," she told him quietly, smiling a little.

Oliver reached down and took her hand. "We'll figure it out. Together."

Chloe took his hand in both of hers and nodded a little, taking a deep breath, "that sounds a lot better than doing it alone."

"Most things do," he whispered.

Pursing her lips together, she nodded slightly, "and we've done enough things on our own," she whispered, referring back to their earlier conversation.

Holding her gaze, he nodded, as well, then slowly stepped closer and wound his arms around her in a gentle hug, closing his eyes.

Chloe sighed deeply and closed her eyes too as she wrapped her arms around him, leaning her cheek against his chest as well as she could with her stomach between them. She never, in a million years, would have guessed that it would be Oliver, of all people, the one who would reach out for her and not only find her after all that time, but also be willing to take _them _in and be willing to help her unconditionally through all this.__

__She also never dreamed she would actually accept his help the way she had been, because she never thought it would feel this... right._ _


	9. Chapter 9

Once they made their way back upstairs and had dinner, which, as promised, included fried okra and a lot of healthier options too, Chloe borrowed Oliver's cellphone and made her way over to the couch. She'd been staring down at the device for a long few minutes, trying to figure out exactly what to say when she actually dialed the number but the more she thought about it, the more she second guessed actually making the call so with a deep breath, she dial the number out of memory and watched as once she pressed send, her cousin's number flashed on the screen.

Pursing her lips together, Chloe pulled the phone up to her ear and leaned back against the couch, waiting.

"Lane," she answered a moment later, sounding tired.

Chloe held her breath, remaining silent for a moment, "Lo?"

There was a second of silence. " _Chloe!?_ "

"Yeah," Chloe said quietly, not surprised her cousin recognized her voice from the single syllable, "it's me."

"Oh my God. Where _are_ you?"

"In Star City," she said quietly, "I'm okay, I'm staying with Oliver." That was the easy part.

There was a moment of silence. "You're with Oliver? How long have you been there?"

"Two days," she told her cousin, leaving it open for the next hundred questions she knew were coming.

"Are you _okaysee_ you tomorrow," Lois corrected her. "Bright and early. You get some rest, too."

"I am," she said, taking a deep breath, "night, Lo." She told her cousin before hanging up then stared down at the phone, Lois' lack of reaction had really surprised her, but mostly, it worried her.

Oliver watched her for a moment. "You okay?"

She pursed her lips for a moment then turned to face Oliver, a frown on her face, "are you sure Lois didn't know?"

His eyebrows furrowed. "Didn't know what?" he asked uncertainly.

"About me being pregnant," she said quietly, shaking her head, "all she said about it was 'oh' and that's... not what I expected."

"Chloe, I didn't tell anyone," he said, shaking his head, as well. "I don't know how she could possibly know."

"I know you didn't," she told him and took a deep breath, "I don't know, maybe something else is going on, she said it was complicated."

Oliver frowned a little. "I guess we'll find out tomorrow," he murmured, watching her intently.

"Yeah," Chloe nodded a little and took a deep breath, "I'll try not to think too much about it."

He stepped closer to her, sliding his arms around her in a gentle hug. "If she knows...it's still gonna be okay. Lois loves you. You're the one person in the world she'd never turn her back on."

"I know it is," she told him quietly, hugging him back, "just makes me wonder who else knows and how they found out."

He shut his eyes for a moment, gently rubbing her back. "I don't know," he murmured.

"I guess it doesn't matter anymore," she said quietly, leaning into him, "it doesn't matter who knows, I guess I've just spent so much time trying to hide..."

"It's become a natural instinct," he finished.

"Exactly," she whispered, looking up at him, "I guess it will take a while to get used to it."

He touched her cheek, nodding as he held her gaze. "I'll keep you safe," he said quietly. "Both of you."

She leaned into his touch and nodded a little, smiling softly as she looked up at him, "I know."

"You tired?" he asked, searching her eyes.

"Always," she said, smiling a little more as she rubbed her thumb gently over his back.

He smiled at that. "Let's get you into bed then," he said, leaning in and kissing her forehead.

"Yeah, you too," Chloe told him, "you had what, all of three hours of sleep last night?" She asked, raising her eyebrows.

"I still need to patrol," he said with a small frown.

"Oh, right," she paused for a moment then shrugged, "I should get online then, get back into Watchtower mode, make sure you're safe."

Oliver's frown deepened. "But you're tired. You should rest, Chloe."

"I'm not promising I'll remain awake through the entirety of patrol," she teased quietly, then shrugged, "but I wanna do it."

A faint smile touched his mouth. "As long as I don't come back to find you passed out at the computer."

"Not making any promises," she told him, taking a deep breath before reluctantly pulling away from him, "you should go get ready."

Nodding a little, he gave her arm a gentle squeeze before heading down the hall to his bedroom. He returned moments later, wearing his uniform and wielding his bow on his back. "Seriously, if you get tired, just head to bed. Okay?"

"I will," Chloe told him as she looked up at him from the dining room table, since she didn't actually have a lap at the moment, she had to keep the laptop on the table, at least the chair was comfortable, "good luck."

"Thanks," he told her with a small smile as he headed for the balcony.

She bit down on her bottom lip as she watched him, as good as he had looked earlier in his beach attire, the green arrow costume was still the best look on him.

* * *

Oliver decided to call it an early night and headed back around Midnight. He landed soundlessly on the balcony, sighing softly when he spotted Chloe at the table, her head laying down and her eyes closed. Shaking his head a little, he moved over to her, gently tucking some hair behind her ear and sliding an arm under her knees. He picked her up with little effort, carrying her down the hall toward her bedroom.

Chloe blinked her eyes open when he picked her up and looked up at him, confused.

"You fell asleep at the table," he whispered, not wanting to wake her fully.

She closed her eyes and made a face, sighing softly, "sorry..."

"Shh," he murmured, nudging the bedroom door open and stepping inside. He was glad the covers were already pulled back and he laid her carefully in bed.

Sighing deeply, she wrapped her arms around him, hugging him to her once he wasn't carrying her anymore.

He paused, surprised at her actions, then figured she was probably only half-awake and thought he was someone else. Like Jimmy. "Rest," he whispered, pressing a kiss to her brow.

"-ank you, Ollie," she whispered to him, keeping her arms around him as she relaxed against the bed.

Oliver swallowed hard, nodding against her. "Welcome," he whispered back.

She opened her eyes a little, squinting as she turned her head to look at him but brushed her nose against his cheek instead, "you're not hurt?"

He held his breath for a moment, closing his eyes. "Sleep," he said softly.

Frowning, Chloe shook her head a little and forced her eyes open wider, "you're hurt."

"Chloe, I'm _fine_ ," he said, shaking his head. "You've been asleep. I think you're half asleep now."

"I'm awake," she whispered to him, shaking her head and holding on to the leather of his vest as she kept her arms around him, "I think I was dreaming you got hurt."

"Just a dream," he murmured, opening his eyes to gaze down at her.

Chloe held his gaze and nodded a little, lifting a hand to touch his cheek, "okay..."

"Do you need something?" he whispered.

She pursed her lips together, suddenly realizing how close his face was, she was so distracted by it, she forgot to answer him.

Oliver swallowed hard. "Chloe?"

Her attention had turned to his lips, so when he called her name, she blinked and focused on his eyes again. She was probably still dreaming.

Unable to stop himself, he gently pressed a kiss to the corner of her mouth. "Sleep," he murmured again.

Chloe held her breath and closed her eyes, turning her head and kissing the corner of his mouth too, "you too," she whispered to him.

"I will." With great effort, he slowly pulled away from her, then reached down and tugged the covers up and around her, smoothing the hair back out of her face.

She sighed deeply and opened her eyes again, looking up at him as she tried to make sense of what had just almost happened.

"Sweet dreams," he murmured, heading for the door.

Chloe pulled the covers higher around herself watching as he walked out of the room and stopping herself from saying anything.

He exhaled slowly as he quietly shut the door behind him, wondering what the hell he'd almost just done.

* * *

By the time Chloe got up the next morning, she half expected it to be mid-morning already, she felt incredibly rested, but according to the clock, it was just past seven, which meant past nine in Metropolis, which meant Lois was probably landing soon, if she hadn't already. She got up, took a quick shower, as quick as she could these days anyway, and changed into another dress Oliver had left for her, they were ridiculously comfortable and still looked pretty decent.

She made her way over to the kitchen and grabbed a glass of juice, then started up her laptop, the apartment was completely silent, so she guessed Oliver was already downstairs in his office.

She started browsing the news and once she was done with the Planet, she pulled up the Star City Gazette, if she was going to be living there, she had to start getting used to reading it, but the second the front page loaded, she stilled.

The headline, in big bold letters read: **Billionaire Bachelor Oliver Queen: Father-To-Be?**

Her stomach turned both at the words and the pictures of them scrolling through the screen, them sitting at the beach, him helping her up, them hugging outside the apartment and the chosen highlight, Oliver rubbing her stomach and clearly talking to it. She couldn't do much more than stare for a long moment, and then started reading the article, which was probably a big mistake.

The words were harsh, talking about how Oliver hadn't been seen with 'this woman' before and suggesting he wasn't the father and then warning him to be careful and make sure she wasn't after his money.

With her chest tight, she walked over to the landline and picked up the phone, dialing the number he had left for her on a post-it note by the phone.

Oliver answered a couple moments later, sounding groggy. "'llo?"

"Ollie?" She said, pausing and frowning as she glanced down the hallway.

His eyebrows furrowed and he sat up slowly. "Chloe?"

Chloe winced when she was pretty sure she heard something coming from his room, "you were sleeping, I'm so sorry..."

"It's okay." He hung up his phone, quickly climbing out of bed and heading down the hallway toward her, wearing only a pair of gray sweatpants. Worry was written all over his face. "Chloe? What's wrong?"

It wasn't until she saw him there half naked that she remembered the previous night and the fact that they almost kissed or... whatever the hell that was. Pursing her lips together, she had to blink and look away from him so she could focus, "we made the front page."

At that, his eyebrows furrowed. "Huh?"

She took a deep breath and looked at him then walked over to the table and turned her laptop toward him.

He rubbed a hand over his eyes and then glanced at the laptop, his eyes widening slightly at the headline. "Oh."

Chloe watched him closely as he watched the screen, "I didn't even _think_ about this..." she admitted quietly.

He was silent for a moment, then he raked a hand through his hair, glancing up at her silently.

"I guess that's one way for everyone we know to find out about her..." Chloe said quietly, taking a deep breath.

Oliver gazed at her intently. "It is," he agreed just as quietly.

She held out the phone to him and nodded a little, "you probably need to call your people."

He paused for a moment, not taking the phone from her. "Do I?"

"Don't you? It's a pretty big mess, Ollie..." she said, frowning in confusion.

"I can straighten things out as far as forcing them to stop saying terrible things and dragging your name through the mud." His voice was quiet, his eyes still on her. "The rest..."

Chloe blinked a couple of times and shook her head, "what are you saying?"

He swallowed hard, his nerves suddenly on edge. "I think you know what I'm saying," he whispered.

She took a deep breath and shook her head a little, looking away and rubbing a hand over her face before looking back at him, "why would you want them to believe that?"

"Why not?" he asked quietly, shaking his head a little.

"Because everyone will think you have a child, Oliver, and that's going to change your image."

"Well, to be honest, Chloe...my image needs to change." He watched her closely. "And I don't really care about that that much anyway."

She took a deep breath and shook her head again, "you're already doing so much, Ollie, you don't have to do that too. I don't care what they think about me."

He took a step closer to her. "What about what they'll think about her?" His voice grew softer.

"No one will remember any of this by the time she's born..." she told him quietly, watching him closely.

"No, Chloe, that's not what..." He drew in a breath and let it out slowly. "I'm talking about people like Tess Mercer. And Clark Kent." He gazed at her intently.

Chloe blinked a couple of times, staring at him for a long moment as she started to comprehend what he was saying, "oh..."

"Just something to think about," he whispered. "I'm not...trying to pressure you to do anything you don't want to do."

"I know I just... hadn't thought about it that way..." she said quietly then started chewing on the inside of her lip.

"It would be believable," he said quietly.

"For Tess, at least," she said just as quietly.

"For everyone." Oliver gazed at her.

"You think Clark would believe it?" She whispered, frowning a little as she watched him, wondering what else she'd missed while she was gone.

"Yes," he said without hesitation. "I do."

"What makes you so sure?" Chloe asked, watching him closely.

His jaw tightened ever so slightly. "Because Clark never understood why I was so intent on finding you. On why _I_ cared so much."

"Oh," Chloe said, a hint of puzzlement on her expression. Something she and Clark had in common, apparently.

"If we run with this, then he'll understand," Oliver said simply.

She still wouldn't. But she wasn't going to press him for answers, not considering what he was offering her, yet another solution to one of her problems. Nodding slightly, Chloe nodded, "let me think about it?"

Oliver nodded slightly as well. "All right. Of course."

"Thank you, Ollie," she said quietly, "for offering."

His chest tightened a little. "Sure," he whispered, looking down at her stomach.

She watched him for a moment then looked down at her stomach too, her head spinning a little and she was glad Lois would be there soon, because she had no idea what to do about Oliver's offer.


	10. Chapter 10

Lois was pleasantly surprised when a limo arrived to pick her up as soon as the jet landed. She was also pleasantly surprised when there was another hot cup of tasty coffee waiting for her inside of it. She grinned a little and took a drink. Oliver might have purchased some useless things in the past, but good coffee was definitely not one of them.

Within twenty minutes she was on an elevator riding up to Oliver's apartment. Then it stopped, but the doors wouldn't open. She glared up at the camera in the corner. "Okay, does someone want to let me off this thing?"

Chloe and Oliver had still been standing in the dining room when she heard her cousin's voice, she paused and turned around, looking at the camera and smiled slightly, relieved, then made a beeline to the security system and buzzed her Lois in.

Oliver drew in a breath and let it out slowly, watching Chloe head for the front door.

She listened as the elevator doors slid open then as Lois' heels clicked on the floor as she made her way down the hallway and toward the penthouse. Chloe couldn't help but be nervous once more, considering her cousin's lack of reaction and the fact that she was just about to see how pregnant she was, she wasn't even thinking about the press and the pictures and Oliver's offer for the time being, she just wanted to see Lois.

Lois knocked loudly on the front door, waiting impatiently.

With a glance at Oliver, Chloe took a deep breath and stepped forward, unlocking and opening the door for her cousin.

"Chloe!" She quickly stepped forward and hugged her cousin as tightly as she could without hurting her.

Chloe held her breath and hugged her cousin back, closing her eyes and tightening her hold on her, "hi."

After a long moment, Lois pulled away to look at her, smiling even though tears sparkled in her eyes. "Oh, honey. You look beautiful."

She was teary eyed too as they pulled back and looked up at her cousin, shaking her head, "I'm huge, you are beautiful, Lo..."

Lois reached up and touched Chloe's face. "You're _glowing_." She kissed her cheek.

Chloe held on to Lois' arms and sniffed a little, looking up at her cousin, something about her being there made things so much better.

"Ollie, you have the best coffee ever," Lois informed him.

He smiled faintly. "Glad you liked it," he told her, glancing at Chloe.

Chloe reached for her cousin's hand without thinking about it then turned to look at Ollie again, "wish I could have some."

"We could do decaf," he offered. "Any flavor you want."

"I can wait a couple more months," Chloe told him quietly, smiling softly at him.

He nodded, glancing between the two cousins. "I should go hit the shower. Lois, make yourself comfortable." He smiled faintly and turned, heading away.

Chloe's chest tightened a little as she watched him go, she didn't want him to feel like he was getting in the way of anything, but at the same time, there was so much she wanted to talk to Lois about.

Lois turned to look at her cousin after Oliver disappeared down the hallway. "All right. Let's sit."

"Yeah," Chloe said, letting out a breath and squeezing Lois' hand before leading her to the couch.

She sat down beside Chloe, tucking a leg beneath her. "How are you feeling? How's she doing?"

"She's..." Chloe paused, frowning as she stared at her cousin for a long moment, "how do you know it's a she?" She asked, even if she had somehow found her medical history, there was no way she would have known the gender because she used her fake id to go into the hospital in New York.

Lois' eyes widened just a little. "Uhh." She flashed her cousin a grin. "Lucky guess?" she tried.

"Lois, what's going on?" She asked, "you didn't seem surprised at all when I told you I was pregnant."

She was silent for a moment. "Okay, so technically I shouldn't be telling you anything." She drew in a deep breath. "Did Ollie tell you I was gone for a few weeks?"

"Yeah," she said quietly, immediately feeling guilty.

She shifted closer to her cousin, glancing nervously toward the hall.

Chloe stared at her for a moment, "tell me."

Lois swallowed. "I was in the future."

" _What_?" Chloe blinked a few times, her eyes widening as she stared at Lois, "what do you mean? How far into the future?"

"About a year," she whispered. "And I'm not supposed to tell anyone. Something about altering what's supposed to be, but...if I don't give you a lot of details, it's all right, right?"

"Right," Chloe said quietly, "and... the fact that now I know what will happen already makes things different anyway but, what did you see?"

"Well..." She looked down at Chloe's stomach. "You weren't still pregnant, obviously. But that's how I knew she's a girl."

"Oh," Chloe held her breath and looked down at her stomach, her eyes tearing up once more, "was she... okay? Was she normal?"

Lois' eyebrows furrowed at that. "Yeah..."

She blew out a breath and nodded a little, covering her stomach with both hands and looking down at it.

"Why wouldn't she be?" Her eyes were wide. "Do the doctors think she's sick?"

"No," Chloe shook her head a little, "I just, I needed to make sure."

Lois relaxed a little, nodding. "Oh. Good. God. Scared me there for a minute."

"Sorry," she said quietly, looking back at Lois, "what else do you know?"

She hesitated. "I really...can't say, Chlo. He said there'd be consequences if I told people and altered the outcome of things."

"Who said it?" Chloe said quietly, frowning a little.

Lois shifted nervously. "Clark."

"Oh," she whispered quietly, still watching Lois then nodding a little, as long as her daughter was normal and healthy, that was all that mattered.

"Although I guess it probably doesn't hurt to tell you that I know about your secret club," Lois blurted out.

Chloe stilled and blinked a couple of times, "Secret club?" She echoed.

She blew out a breath. "You, Ollie, AC, the robot guy, the assassin chick...and that kid that kept flirting with everything with boobs."

Pursing her lips together, Chloe couldn't help but smile a little at the way Lois chose to refer to the team members, "I guess the cat is out of the bag, then."

Lois raised her eyebrows. "You could say that."

"Good," Chloe said quietly, "I didn't tell you anything because it was safer for you that way, but I never liked lying to you."

She waved her hand. "Don't worry about it, Cuz. You know I have a big mouth. I wouldn't have told me either. Plus it's not like it was your place to tell me everybody's secrets."

"Thanks for understanding," Chloe said quietly, rubbing her stomach slowly.

Lois reached out and rested a hand on her stomach, smiling when she felt a light kick. "Hey there, Kiddo. It's Aunt Lois." Her voice was cheerful.

Chloe's chest tightened as she watched Lois and nodded a little, "she's saying hi."

"Of course. She knows I'm going to spoil the crap out of her." She smirked.

Smiling slightly, Chloe nodded a little, "I'm sorry I worried you, Lo..."

"It's okay," Lois said, glancing up at her, and then hugging her gently. "Just...don't ever do it again."

"I won't," Chloe promised, hugging Lois tightly, "I'm not going anywhere anymore."

"Good. Holding you to that." She let go of her a moment later. "I have to pee. I had way too much coffee on the flight. And in the limo."

She nodded and pursed her lips, she was about to tell Lois where to go, but didn't, "go ahead."

Lois smiled and rose to her feet, heading down the hall to Chloe's room and the bathroom connected to it.

Chloe cocked her head and watched as Lois went straight down the hall without even blinking... it looked like in the future, she was staying with Oliver too.

* * *

"I had no idea you could even cook," Lois informed him as she dropped onto the sofa beside her cousin, looking at Oliver with raised eyebrows.

Oliver smiled a bit as he sat down on Chloe's other side and shrugged. "It's been awhile since I've done it," he admitted.

"He made the best vegetable soup the other night," Chloe told Lois, looking between the two of them then at Ollie, "but I think the lasagna is my favorite now."

His expression softened a little when he looked at her. "Yeah? So Italian's a big hit?"

"Oh yeah," Chloe nodded, smiling softly at him, "and I think the boss agrees," she teased, patting her stomach.

He grinned at that. "We're going to have to get you a shirt that says that."

She grinned softly and wrinkled her nose, "just because you used to be the boss before she came around."

Oliver chuckled. "Hardly. I just bankrolled the whole thing," he teased. "Everyone knew who was _really_ in charge."

"Bart?" Chloe teased.

He shook his head with amusement, gazing at her with warmth in his eyes.

Lois watched them intently, a smirk on her face as she listened to their playful banter.

"Well," Chloe leaned against the couch and yawned, then blinked a couple of times, "I just guide the team through missions, you're the one who finds the missions and tells us what to work on."

"You do a lot more than that," he told her quietly, draping his arm around the back of the couch.

"Need to get back into it," Chloe told him, smiling a little then looking over at her cousin.

"Sounds like they need to have some guidance," Lois informed them, nodding at Chloe.

"Well, they are mostly boys," Chloe teased, rubbing her stomach slowly and relaxing, she had been feeling a lot better, probably because she had spent the entire day with both Ollie and Lois, and even all the other articles that had come out on her having Ollie's baby weren't bothering her, Lois seemed pretty comfortable and considering she knew the future, maybe things were going exactly how they were supposed to. She still wanted to talk to her in private about if she thought she should let Ollie pose as her daughter's dad, but that could wait until whenever Ollie had to go to work.

Oliver watched her intently as she laid her head back against the sofa. "We are a bit hard to wrangle at times," he conceded with a small smile.

"Pretty impossible," she said, her head brushing against his arm as she turned to face him.

He grinned. "Some more than others."

"No kidding?" Chloe smirked softly and took a deep breath, "I'm surprised none of them called yet."

"Give it time." Without thinking about it, he reached down and tucked some hair behind her ear.

She nodded slightly and smiled up at him, closing her eyes for a second at the light touch, "yeah, I guess so..."

He gazed at her even as she shut her eyes.

Lois watched him intently, then glanced at the peaceful expression on her cousin's face, a smile tugging at her mouth.

Chloe sighed softly as her head fell on Oliver's shoulder and she relaxed, rubbing her stomach idly as she started to fall asleep. Oliver rested his head against hers for a moment, closing his eyes as well, one of his hands covering hers.

"How long has this been going on?" Lois asked quietly, eyes on them.

He lifted his head and looked up at her, his eyebrows furrowing. "What?"

"You, Chloe..." Lois told him.

Oliver grew still for a moment, then looked down at Chloe, swallowing hard as he saw she had fallen asleep. "I don't know what you're talking about. We're just...friends."

"It's fine, Ollie," she said with a shrug, "it's reciprocal."

He raised his eyebrows at that. "Right."

"I know my cousin," Lois said matter-of-factly, "take my word for it."

He was quiet for a moment, looking down at Chloe once more. He sighed very softly, and closed his eyes.

"I'm gonna go take a shower," Lois said, getting up from the couch slowly, "don't do anything I wouldn't."

Oliver frowned at that. "That's cute, really."

"I'm not joking," she paused and shrugged a little, "you make them happy," Lois smirked a little and disappeared down the hall.

He raised his eyebrows as she took off and then he looked down at Chloe. "Don't take this the wrong way, but your cousin's a little crazy," he whispered almost inaudibly, not wanting to wake her.

Chloe sighed softly and leaned a little closer to him, resting her head in the crook of his neck and relaxing again, a soft smile on her lips.

He swallowed hard, slowly curling his arm around her. "But maybe not entirely."


	11. Chapter 11

Clark kept hearing Oliver's name over and over again, but it wasn't until he made it out of the fortress and was halfway to Metropolis that he realized why, and then he changed his route to Star City instantly, it was just past nine in California but he didn't care, he ran right into the Queen penthouse, his hands into fists, "Oliver?" He called, his jaw tight.

Oliver jerked his head up off the back of the sofa where he still sat, Chloe curled up against him, stirring from sleep. He blinked a couple of times, his eyes widening a little when he saw Clark.

Chloe complained quietly with a groan as she shifted on the couch, fighting against waking up because she was so warm and comfortable.

Clark turned toward the two, no _three_ heartbeats, his eyes widening as she saw both Oliver and a very pregnant version of Chloe sitting on the couch, waking up.

Oliver's arm tightened around her just a fraction as he stared at the one man he feared might just be able to shatter whatever it was that was going on with them, his jaw tightening. "Ever heard of knocking?" he whispered.

Rubbing a hand over her face, Chloe reluctantly opened her eyes when Oliver spoke, and he sounded pissed. Blinking a couple of times, her eyes widened as she saw who was standing there, "Clark?"

"What is going on here?" Clark demanded.

He reluctantly pulled away from Chloe, rising to his feet. "None of your business," he responded evenly.

"Is it true?" He asked Chloe, his jaw tight.

Chloe frowned and shook her head, sitting up but making no move to get up, "what are you talking about, Clark?"

"The _news_ ," Clark shot at them, glaring at Oliver and then looking at Chloe, his gaze settling on her stomach.

She suddenly felt more awake and her chest tightened painfully, she hadn't been able to talk to Lois about it yet, but apparently, she wasn't going to be able to, she had to make a decision now, "what do you _think_?"

"I don't know what to think," he responded harshly. "I feel like I don't even know who you are anymore!"

"Because you _don't_ know who she is anymore," Oliver informed him, his hands curling into fists at his sides.

"Just leave us alone, Clark," Chloe told him, pushing herself up.

Oliver turned to glance at her, his expression registering worry.

Clark's eyes narrowed as he took a step forward, "it's not like you! You wouldn't sleep with him." He accused.

Chloe frowned and shook her head, "you have no idea what I would and would not do because you are so busy with your own life, everyone else just stand in the sidelines and I don't care if you believe it or not, I'm having Ollie's baby and that's the truth!" The words rolled out of her mouth before she even noticed what she was saying, but she was glad it was done.

Oliver's expression gave away nothing as he turned to face Clark once more. "Now back the hell off," he ordered.

He just stared at the two of them in disbelief, "I'm going to get to the bottom of this."

"There is nothing to get to the bottom of, Clark," Chloe said angrily, turning her hands into fists because they were suddenly shaking, not completely out of anger, but fear that Clark would somehow hurt her baby, "our family is none of your business."

"Chloe, you need to calm down," Oliver told her, turning to glance at her.

"What is going _on_ out here?" Lois demanded as she rubbed her hands over her face, making her way down the hall tiredly. "It's way too early to have some kind of--" She froze at the sight of Clark. "Oh."

Clark stilled when his eyes fell on Lois and he turned his attention on her, "you _know_ about this?"

Lois narrowed her eyes at him and folded her arms across her chest. "Yes," she said, her tone clipped. "And don't take that tone of voice with me, Buddy."

Chloe jaw was tight when he saw the way Clark was looking at Lois, most of all, she wasn't sure what her cousin would do if questioned about who the father of her child was because when Chloe started telling Lois about the articles all she said was that they'd die down and that she didn't need to hear anything else. "You leave her out of this," she told Clark angrily.

"You should do the same," Clark said back.

If possible, Lois' eyes narrowed even more and she walked closer to Clark. "She is my _family_ , and I will _not_ be left out of her or my niece's life. What the hell is your problem, Clark?" she demanded, shaking her head.

"She's lying," Clark said, eyes narrowing at Chloe.

All Chloe could do was stare at him, her chest and jaw clenched as tightly at her fists, the baby was kicking and Chloe knew she was upset too but she had to make Clark believe because if he didn't, Chloe knew he was going to try and take her baby away from her and she couldn't let that happen.

Oliver's jaw tightened and he glared at Clark. "Why do you think I worked so hard to find her?" he asked harshly. "I _knew_ she was pregnant with my baby, Clark! Didn't you ever ask yourself why I was more concerned with finding her than you were? Didn't you wonder why?" 

He shook his head, looking from Chloe to Oliver, eyes narrowing.

"No, because you're too fucking self-involved," Oliver spat. "If it's not about Clark Kent, it doesn't matter. Right? Get out." 

Clark shook his head, looking over at Lois for help.

Lois sighed heavily, not looking very happy. "Why is this so hard for you to believe, Clark?" she asked, watching him closely.

"Because this isn't _like_ her," Clark said, frowning at Lois.

" _Stop_ saying that!" Chloe told him, taking a step forward, "I slept with Oliver, what about this is so hard for you to understand, Clark?"

Oliver's jaw tensed a little more as he stared at Clark. "Why? Because I'm so beneath her?" 

Clark looked at the two of them again and his eyes fell on Chloe, "because she was already involved with someone else."

A bitter smile touched Oliver's mouth. "Why do you think she and Jimmy were _really_ broken up, Clark?" he asked evenly, glad when the other man's attention turned to him once more. 

"I'm not talking about _Jimmy_ ," Clark told him.

Chloe held her breath and considering Clark looked at her when she did, he knew he had heard her, "do you really think I would have slept with that _monster_?" Chloe asked angrily, "you don't know me at all."

Oliver took a step toward Clark. "You want the truth, Clark?" His voice was quiet. Too quiet. _Dangerous_.

Clark looked back at Oliver, his eyes narrowing.

"I seduced her," he informed the other man. "Shortly after I killed Lex. She and Jimmy were struggling, I was alone. I was drowning my sorrows in a bottle of whiskey after patrolling one night and got the idea to see how she was doing so I showed up at Isis and she was still there." There wasn't a hint of kidding in his voice. "One thing led to another..." He shrugged. "I didn't have protection with me and I assumed she was on the pill." 

Oliver's voice was so serious, that even though Lois knew the truth, she almost believed him.

"Stop," Chloe told him when she found herself able to speak, and reached out for Oliver's hand for good measure, but her eyes stayed on Clark, "it's none of his business, he can believe whatever the hell he wants, we know the truth and that's what matters," she said tightly, then added, "now get out."

Clark stared at the three of them for a long moment then took a step back and shook his head, looking at Chloe's stomach for a moment before, without warning, throwing a punch against Oliver's gut.

He hit the ground hard, all the air knocked out of him and closed his eyes as he felt the urge to vomit.

" _Clark!_ " Lois moved closer to him, shoving him backwards.

Chloe's eyes widened and she knelt down by Oliver as quickly as she could, reaching for his head and supporting it under her hand, "are you okay?" She whispered, knowing that Clark could have very well just shattered all his ribs.

"How could you do that to Jimmy? Both of you!" Clark demanded, paying no attention to Lois.

With a deep breath, Chloe turned to look at Clark, "Leave us alone! This is none of your business! Get the hell out of our house and don't you dare talk about Jimmy! Go back to where you belong."

"How could _you_ do that to Oliver?" Lois shot back, glaring at him angrily. "You can't abuse your powers like that, Clark! He's not nearly invincible like _you_ are!"

Clark stilled, his eyes widening as he looked over at Lois.

She froze, as well, staring at him with equally wide eyes.

"What do you... what are you talking about?" He asked, shaking his head.

Chloe's jaw clenched once more, "I already told you to get out, Clark."

Lois swallowed hard, then grabbed his arm, pulling him toward the door. "You and I need to talk," she said, sounding infinitely calmer than she actually felt.

"Lois!" Chloe said, her eyes suddenly widening.

She turned to look at Chloe. "Just make sure Ollie's okay," she told her cousin. "And I'll take care of the rest."

Chloe pursed her lips together and held Lois' gaze for a moment then nodded, watching as her cousin dragged Clark out the door before turning to look at Oliver.

He sucked in a pained breath and let it out slowly before he struggled to sit up, wincing a little.

"Are you okay?" She asked worriedly, still kneeling beside him and lifting a hand to cover his stomach gently.

"I'll live." He swallowed hard then forced a chuckle. "Good thing he practices some self-restraint."

"I'm sorry, Ollie," she said sincerely, watching him worriedly and brushing a hand over his hair.

He shook his head a little. "Don't be. I goaded him on purpose."

"Still, it's not his place," she said, her jaw tightening slightly.

Oliver exhaled slowly, opening his eyes. "Maybe not. But at least he bought it." 

Chloe's eyes widened and she shook her head, covering his lips with her fingers.

He winced. "Sorry," he whispered almost inaudibly.

She dropped her hand and shook her head a little, "it's okay..." she whispered, shifting to sit down on the floor next to him and sighing deeply.

He pressed a hand to his stomach as he sat up the rest of the way, grimacing. "Are you all right?" he asked, glancing at her sideways.

Nodding slightly, she looked over at him, "maybe we should have Emil take a look at you."

"I'm okay," he told her, leaning back against the sofa and blowing out a breath. He hesitantly reached toward her stomach. "Can I...?"

Chloe nodded slightly, looking down at her stomach too, "you don't have to ask."

"Yeah, I do," he murmured even as he gently lay his hand on her stomach. He wasn't surprised when he felt movement immediately.

She shook her head a little and covered his hand with hers, looking up at him, "no, you don't."

Oliver turned his head to meet her eyes, his chest tightening. "I don't want to cross any boundaries, Chloe."

"I'm telling you you're not," she told him quietly, holding his gaze. 

He nodded very slightly, searching her eyes even as Maddie grew still beneath their hands.

Chloe glanced down at her stomach, smiling slightly before looking up at him again, "I don't know how you do it."

A small smile touched his mouth and he shook his head a little. "Luck?"

"Right," she said quietly, rubbing her thumb over his hand softly.

He watched her, his expression softening. "Chloe..."

She pursed her lips together and held his gaze.

Oliver searched her eyes. "You're sure you're okay with all of this?"

"Yeah," she whispered quietly, keeping her eyes on his, "if you are."

"I'm fine with it," he whispered. He paused for a moment. "Truthfully, I'm more than fine with it."

"Why?" She asked in a whisper, searching his eyes as she kept her hand over his.

"Truth?" He drew in a breath and let it out slowly. "I uh...all that stuff I said to Clark." Oliver looked down. "I wish it was true."

Her eyes widened a little at that and she was quiet for a moment, "you do?"

"I care about you, Chloe," he said very softly.

She sniffed a little and nodded, looking down at their hands, "I wish it was true too," she admitted very quietly.

Oliver swallowed hard, looking over at her. "You do?"

"Yeah..." she whispered quietly, lifting her head to look at him, "you've been so wonderful and we would be so lucky to have you."

He met her eyes once more. "You _do_ have me," he whispered.

Chloe paused for a moment and kept her eyes on him, nodding slightly, "I still wish..."

"Me too," he murmured, lifting his free hand to her cheek.

She cupped his hand with her free one too and nodded slightly, her chest tight because no matter what they were telling everyone, they couldn't change the truth.

He hesitantly dipped his head a little, his lips brushing against hers very softly.

Chloe stilled for a second and blinked a couple of times before closing her eyes and pressing her lips gently against his.

Oliver's eyes drifted shut, as well and he slowly slid his hand up and into her hair, tilting her head back a little so he could slowly deepen the kiss.

She sighed softly and slid her hands up his arms as she pulled him a little closer, her lips parting under his, her heart beating fast against her chest. She hadn't really thought Oliver meant it _this_ way, because she never thought he would possibly look at her like that.

He brushed his nose lightly against hers as his tongue began to dance with hers slowly.

Chloe lifted a hand to cup his cheek and held on to him as the kiss deepened, starting to relax now that the surprise was over.

After a long moment, he rested his forehead against hers. "Is that okay?" he murmured.

"Yeah," Chloe whispered quietly, brushing her nose against his, "really okay."

Oliver relaxed at the reassurance, pressing a kiss to the corner of her mouth. "I want this, Chloe," he whispered. "With you. All of it."

She opened her eyes and looked up at him, searching his eyes, "are you sure, Ollie?" She whispered quietly, "I know it's... a lot."

He gazed back at her, nodding slightly. "I'm sure," he whispered back, moving his thumb lightly over her cheek.

"Sure about _her_?" She asked, needing to make sure.

"Chloe..." He reached down and rested his hand on her stomach once more, his eyes not leaving hers. "I'm sure about all of it."

Her eyes teared up and she shook her head a little, smiling slightly, she didn't even know what to say to him, she hadn't realized how much she wanted this until they started talking and the fact that he was willing to accept both her and her daughter like this, "thank you."

"Thank _you_. For letting me be a part of this," he said quietly. "I know I'm not the most ideal candidate."

"Yes, you are," she told him quietly, shifting closer and wrapping her arms around him, "you already manage to calm her down, you'll be wonderful with her."

He smiled a little and pressed a kiss to her forehead as he wound his arms around her, as well. "I'll do my best," he promised.

Chloe hugged him close and nodded a little, kissing his cheek softly, "I know."

"I should call my PR people," he murmured. "Set up a press conference."

She blinked a couple of times and lifted her head to look up at him, "are you sure?"

Oliver nodded, kissing her forehead again. "Yeah. It might be rough for awhile, but we'll get through it."

"We will," she said quietly, "it won't be any worse than it was."

"No," he agreed. "We just have to show people a united front."

"That shouldn't be too hard," she said quietly, smiling up at him.

He smiled back at her and then kissed her softly. "Come on. You two are probably hungry. I'll fix some breakfast."

Chloe nodded slightly and took a deep breath before reluctantly pulling away from him, "I wonder how long Lois will be."

Oliver rose to his feet, helping her to hers, as well. "My guess is awhile," he said quietly. "But I'll make enough so if she's hungry she can eat when she gets back."

"How's your stomach?" She asked quietly as she stood up.

He drew in a breath and let it out slowly. "I might skip patrolling tonight," he said wryly.

"I'm sorry," she winced, rubbing a hand over his stomach slowly. "Do you want to put some ice on it?"

Oliver swallowed hard, looking down at her hand. "No?"

Chloe stilled and pulled her hand away, "did I hurt you?"

"No," he said, shaking his head and reaching up to rub the back of his neck. "No, you didn't hurt me."

"Are you okay?" She asked quietly, frowning slightly.

He smiled awkwardly. "I'm...good."

"Okay," she said quietly, still watching him closely.

Oliver met her eyes for a moment. " _Really_ good," he told her, cringing.

" _Oh_ ," she paused, her eyes widening as she finally understood what he meant, "that's hm, much better."

"Awkward, however," he said with a slight, embarrassed chuckle, shaking his head as he moved toward the fridge.

"Well, kinda flattering," she admitted, her face hot, "especially when I feel like a whale..."

"You look gorgeous," Oliver told her without hesitation.

She grinned a little at that and shook her head, following him into the kitchen, "anything I can help you with?"

He raised an eyebrow, a smirk tugging at his mouth. "You should probably...just sit at the table."

"I'm not going near the stove," she told him, rolling her eyes a little, "but I can still... beat eggs or something."

"I meant so...I wasn't more distracted," he responded with amusement.

"Oh," Chloe said again, raising her eyebrows and shrugging a little as she took a step closer, "maybe I want you to be distracted."

He swallowed hard at that. "You're not hungry?"

"Yeah," she told him quietly, smirking a little as she kept her eyes on him. 

A smile tugged at his mouth and he held her gaze.

She smiled back and took a couple of steps forward, closing the space between them and shrugged as she tip-toed and kissed him softly, mostly she wanted to because she could, but also, this was a newfound power she couldn't wait to explore.


	12. Chapter 12

The press conference had been tiring for him, but Oliver was much more concerned with how Chloe had taken it. Squeezing her hand as they made their way back into his apartment, he glanced at her sideways. "You okay?" he murmured, leading her to the sofa where they could sit down and relax for a little while, back out of the public eye.

"Yeah," she told him, smiling a little and nodded, not even blinking before taking a seat, she'd been standing for too long and her feet were probably huge, but she couldn't see them, "glad that's done."

He nodded as well, kneeling in front of her and gently removing her shoes from her feet. He looked up at her as he gently began to massage her right foot, a smile on his face.

Chloe sighed deeply and leaned against the couch, closing her eyes, "why are you so amazing?"

Oliver grinned at that. "It's genetic," he joked, watching her as he worked.

She opened her eyes and smiled a little at that, "can't help it, huh?"

"Basically." He winked at her and moved to her other foot.

"Lucky me..." she breathed, relaxing even more as she closed her eyes again.

His expression softened. "Me too," he whispered.

She smiled even though she kept her eyes closed and sighed deeply, "I'm glad that went well," she told him quietly.

"Better than expected," he agreed, nodding as he massaged her foot.

"Yeah..." she lifted her head and looked down at him, shrugging a little, "it will probably be bad for a week or so, then they will forget about it."

He chuckled. "No, then there will be bets on when she'll be born and if we're getting married soon and if she'll be a girl or a boy," he informed her.

"Well, less people will be that interested, hopefully," she told him, smiling softly and shrugging, "and then they will all be interested again when she's born but then they won't care anymore. Not until she's sixteen and does something scandalous."

He smirked, raising his eyebrows at her. "I'd say that's being awfully optimistic, Sidekick. Sixteen? This is our kid, remember?" Oliver grinned.

Her heart skipped a beat at his words. _Our_ kid. Her chest suddenly felt warm and she held out her hands, trying to get him closer, "okay, well, maybe when she's seven..."

He smiled, rising up on his knees and kissing her softly. "She'll have hacked into NSA's database by age six," he predicted.

She kissed him back and cupped his face in her hands, "that's child's play," she teased.

Oliver chuckled at that, kissing her once more and then leaning down and pressing a kiss to her stomach.

Chloe smiled softly and brushed her fingers through his hair, "yeah, gotta share your attention between us two."

"I have enough attention to go around," he assured her, glancing up at her and smiling softly.

She leaned down and kissed him again, sliding her hand down his arm and squeezing it gently then stilling when she heard someone clearing their throat.

Oliver paused for a moment, then turned his head to see Bart, AC and Victor standing there. He raised his eyebrows, truly surprised. "Guys." 

"Told you it wasn't some kind of publicity stunt!" Bart said as he took a step forward.

Chloe blinked a couple of times and sat up, raising her eyebrows a little, "hm, hi."

"Fine, so I owe you some cash," Victor said, sighing, even though he was smiling.

"I guess you were right about the betting," Chloe told Oliver, raising her eyebrow even further.

Bart smirked and nodded at Vic then looked back at the two of them, "so why didn't you guys tell us? This is awesome!"

Oliver smiled and glanced up at Chloe with vague amusement, then turned his head to smile at the guys. "Come on in, guys. Sit down."

AC grinned at Chloe. "I think congratulations are in order." He sat down beside her.

"Thank you," she told him, smiling between the four men, "when did you guys get to Star City?"

"Like, two minutes ago? Bart express," Bart said proudly.

Oliver chuckled at that, reaching out and taking one of Chloe's hands in his as he moved to sit on her other side.

Vic sat down beside AC. "Been awhile," he said pointedly, looking at Oliver.

"Yeah dude," Bart said, sitting down on the chair across from the couch, "though I guess now we know it's not because you hate us."

Chloe raised her eyebrows a little at the exchange and glanced over at Ollie.

Oliver winced at that. "Far from it," he said quietly, shaking his head, his grip tightening on Chloe's hand just a little. "I'm sorry if that's what you thought."

AC studied him for a moment. "We're just glad you're alright." He paused. "All three of you." He grinned.

Bart nodded and shrugged a little, "yeah, no big deal."

Chloe smiled softly and nodded, "we're doing okay, how are you guys?"

"Good," Vic told her. "But when we saw the press conference we had to stop by." He smiled at her.

"Understandable," Chloe nodded, squeezing Ollie's hand, she wouldn't mind if the boys knew the truth, but it was probably easier this way, especially since it looked like was going to be a dad to her daughter anyway, "I'm glad you guys did, I missed you."

AC grinned again. "How could you not, Tower? We're awesome."

Vic smirked at him and shook his head.

Oliver chuckled, winding his arm around Chloe's shoulders and placing a soft kiss to her temple.

She leaned into him and smiled softly, "no arguments there."

"So do you know what it is? Are you naming him Bart?" Bart asked, smirking.

"No way, Man. They're naming him Arthur. Much more dignified," AC announced.

Oliver smirked at them. "Try neither."

"We wanted to name him after all you guys," Chloe teased, "but he is a she."

"And her name's Maddie," he added.

AC smiled. "A little girl, huh?"

"Maddie isn't as good as Bart, but I guess it will do," Bart said, winking at Chloe.

Chloe laughed softly and nodded, "glad to have your approval," she told Bart then smiled at AC, nodding.

Oliver reached out and rested his hand on her stomach, gently moving his thumb over it. "She's either a boxer or a soccer player. We're not sure yet." He grinned.

"Does she kick a lot then?" Victor asked.

Chloe nodded, "yeah, but usually all it takes is Ollie talking to her and she stops," she told them.

"A daddy's girl," AC joked, watching Oliver with mild surprise at the pride on the other man's face.

Oliver smiled back, leaning his head against Chloe's.

Nodding, Chloe glanced at Ollie as well as she could, "one hundred percent."

"Are you kidding me? He's already all wrapped around her fingers, look at him," Bart added, smirking.

"Can you blame me?" Oliver raised his eyebrows at Bart with vague amusement.

"Nah, man, if you're gonna have a mini Chloe around, you're gonna have to be careful."

"Believe me, I know." He grinned, pressing a kiss to Chloe's cheek.

She smiled and leaned into the kiss a little, sliding her fingers through Ollie's "well, again, no arguments there..." she said with a smirk.

Oliver brushed his nose against hers, gazing at her, his eyes bright. "For more reasons than one." 

Chloe smiled up at him and raised her eyebrows, "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"I'd say get a room, but I guess I'm too late for that," Bart teased, watching them.

He smirked at Bart. "Are you guys gonna stay?" he asked curiously, kissing the palm of Chloe's hand absently.

Chloe pulled back a little to look at the boys.

"Well, we figured we'd at least buy some pizza to celebrate," Victor said.

Oliver smiled at him. "We appreciate it. We uh--haven't been met with the greatest approval level," he admitted, glancing at Chloe.

"Yeah, the papers have been harsh," AC said with a frown.

"It's not so much the papers," Chloe said quietly, glancing at Ollie.

"What is then?" Bart asked, frowning, "Cos I'll totally kick their asses."

Oliver drew in a breath. "Clark is...less than pleased, to say the least."

"Why?" Victor frowned, shaking his head a little.

"A lot of reasons," he said quietly.

"He'll come around," AC said, frowning a little.

"It doesn't matter," Chloe said, shrugging a little, "we have you guys and Lois and that's plenty of babysitters," she added with a smile.

"And if Chloe doesn't care, I certainly don't," Oliver said matter-of-factly, glancing at her as he felt Maddie kick beneath his hand.

Chloe blinked a little and looked down, cocking her head, she usually kicked when Chloe was upset, but she was okay now and Ollie was the one who seemed upset, "apparently Maddie agrees with the sentiment."

He rubbed her stomach gently. "Easy in there," he murmured.

"She's kicking?" Bart asked, his eyes wide.

"Yeah," Chloe nodded, smiling softly at Bart, "you can feel it if you want to."

Oliver shifted slightly, moving his hand away as Bart approached. He smiled at the younger man, kissing Chloe's temple.

Chloe took Bart's hand and placed it over the spot, smiling at him, "right here."

"Woah," Bart said, eyes widening, "dude, that's weird."

He chuckled. "Watch it, that's my kid." His eyes were filled with warmth.

She smiled at his words and turned her head, her chest tight as she pressed her lips to Ollie's cheek.

"Yeah, I can tell by the way she's kicking," Bart said, pulling his hand back, "doesn't it hurt?"

Chloe shook her head, "not really, sometimes it's weird when she kicks my ribs." 

Oliver rubbed her shoulder gently, kissing her cheek in return. 

Victor stood up. "Chloe, can I...?"

"Yeah, of course," Chloe said, guiding his hand to her stomach too as Bart stepped aside then looking down at her stomach, "you're meeting all your uncles today, kid."

Victor grinned as he felt Maddie kick lightly. "Hey, Kiddo. You're going to be a computer whiz between me and your mom," he informed her stomach.

AC moved in when Victor moved away, putting his hand on the same spot. "And I'll be the best swim teacher ever."

"And fastest runner ever, even if I have to pick her up and get her to the other side," Bart smirked.

Chloe laughed softly and raised her eyebrows at Ollie, "guess we're all set on fairy godmothers." 

All three of the guys stared at her. "Godmothers!?" they said in unison.

Oliver laughed at their expressions, his whole body shaking. "Oh God. You should see the looks on your faces."

She laughed too, leaning against Ollie and shaking her head, "what, you were each giving her a gift, there are three of you, it's just like sleeping beauty," she smirked and shook her head when all three of them looked at her blankly, "don't worry, you'll get it when you read her the story." 

Oliver kissed her cheek, still grinning. Maybe things really would turn out to be okay.

* * *

Another month and half went by and things _were_ turning out to be pretty good. She and Oliver had grown closer and closer and Oliver had become Maddie's dad in every way. The media believed it, the guys believed it and even Chloe herself believed it. It didn't matter if he hadn't conceived her, he was the one who would be taking care of her and he was already the one who loved her unconditionally.

Chloe watched Oliver as he slept peacefully next to her and smiled softly then took a deep breath and pushed herself up from the bed. She had just hit eight months and she was more miserable than ever, if the weight and her back pain weren't enough, the constant trips to the bathroom made everything worse because it forced her to move.

Rubbing a hand over her stomach, she winced a little as there was a change of pressure in her stomach and frowned, slowly down but keeping on going, until she reached the bottom of her stomach and stilled, realizing her nightgown was soaked. Blinking and with her heart suddenly beating fast, she took a deep breath, "Ollie!" She called from the bathroom door, not wanting to move.

He was up in a heartbeat, years of training had made his reflexes very good. "Chloe?" He quickly made his way toward the bathroom. "What's wrong?"

"I don't know," she said urgently, turning her head to look at him but not moving otherwise, "I think my water broke."

His eyes widened at that. She was a month early. "Oh. Okay, stay calm." He rested a hand on her shoulder, reaching out to flip on the bathroom light.

Chloe looked down, trying to see how wet her nightgown was and then stilled again, her eyes tearing up instantly, "Ollie..." she whispered, terrified.

Oliver looked down and sucked in a breath at the sight of all the blood. He quickly wound his arms around her. And then he yelled for Clark as loud as he could.

She wrapped her arms around her stomach, "she's not moving," she said, her voice cracking as tears started streaming down her face, "Ollie, she's not moving."

"Breathe," he whispered. "It's gonna be okay." He didn't flinch as a gust of wind alerted him to Clark's presence. "She needs a hospital right _now_." 

Chloe sniffed and looked at Oliver with big eyes even as Clark picked her up, she opened her mouth to say something but with another gust of wind, they were gone.

His chest tight, he quickly threw on some clothes and made his way to the door, dialing Lois' number on the way there.

Lois picked up a couple of rings later and frowned, "this better be Pulitzer good."

"It's Oliver. I'm sending Bart for you. Are you at the apartment or at the Planet?" He didn't bother with the elevator, instead making his way down the stairwell quickly.

"Apartment," Lois answered, sitting up and rubbing her face, "what's wrong?"

"Get dressed. Chloe's in labor and.." He swallowed hard. "I think something's wrong."

Lois swallowed then nodded, getting up, "Okay," she told him then paused, "they're gonna be fine, Ollie, both of them."

"We don't know that." He took the stairs two at a time. "I'll send Bart. See you soon."

"I do," Lois said, "send him."

Oliver wasn't entirely sure what that was supposed to mean, but he hung up and dialed Bart's number.

Bart answered the phone on the first ring, "what's up?"

"I need you to go get Lois and bring her to Star City General Hospital," he said urgently.

He was silent for a moment then nodded, "on it," Bart said, already halfway to Smallville.

Oliver hung up the phone, sending out text messages to Victor, AC and Dinah, even though he hadn't spoken to her in months. His heart was pounding heavily in his chest as he finally made it to the ground floor, rushing to his car.


	13. Chapter 13

Lois rubbed a hand over her face and took a deep breath as she paced the floor of the waiting room, looking down the hallway again, "they could _at least_ give us an update," she said, sighing in frustration.

Oliver sat alone in the corner of the room, staring down at his hands unblinking. It had been hours. _Hours_ with no word at all. It felt like some surreal nightmare.

Bart sighed a little, looking between the others impatiently. He was surprised how quickly everyone made their way there, and even more surprised that Clark was there, considering what Chloe and Oliver had told them. He stilled when he saw a doctor walking toward them, his eyes widening as he walked straight to Oliver.

"Mr. Queen?"

He quickly rose to his feet. "How is she?"

"They are both stable." The doctor told him, "your personal doctor is taking over the birth, we have moved Ms. Sullivan to the delivery room but she will be sedated for a while longer."

Oliver held his breath for a moment. "I want to see her."

"I’ll show you where you can get sterilized." He told him, "follow me."

Not hesitating, he followed the doctor down the hallway, his heart beating quickly in his chest. Within moments he was wearing a hospital gown as he stood beside Chloe's bed while Emil moved around the room. He didn't look up from her pale face, one hand resting against her cheek. "It's gonna be okay," he whispered.

Emil looked up to where Oliver was, "are you sure you want to be here for it?" He asked, even if he knew the answer.

"I'm not leaving them." He swallowed hard, pressing a kiss to her forehead.

The doctor nodded slightly then nodded at the nurse before he started the c-section.

Chloe's head turned on the bed and she opened her eyes only a slit.

"Wait," Oliver said urgently. "She's waking up."

"She won't feel anything," Emil assured him, "she probably won't be fully conscious."

"Are you _sure_?" he pressed, resting his hand against her cheek again.

"We gave her an epidural," Emil told him.

"'Llie," Chloe whispered.

"I'm right here, Sidekick," he whispered. "Everything's going to be okay."

"-ie," Chloe mumbled, sighing and closing her eyes again.

Oliver leaned down and kissed her forehead tenderly, closing his eyes. "You're gonna pull through this," he whispered.

She opened her eyes again and tried to move her hand toward him but it was too heavy.

He reached down without hesitation and took her hand in his. "Rest," he whispered.

"'ve you," she whispered to him, her fingers twitching around his hand as she tried to hold on to it.

His vision blurred. "I love you too," he whispered, his throat tightening.

Chloe sighed deeply, relaxing again.

A long moment later, there was a soft cry as Emil picked Maddie up, "Oliver?"

He blinked rapidly, looking over to where the doctor was holding the tiny infant.

"Come meet your daughter," Emil told him, giving him a soft smile.

He swallowed hard, kissing Chloe's forehead once more before moving around the bed, the breath catching in his throat as the nurse took the child and quickly cleaned her nose and mouth, swaddling her in a tiny pink blanket and handing her to him. Feeling overwhelmed, he carefully cradled her to his chest. "Hi," he whispered.

Maddie moved her arms a little inside the blanket and shifted in his arms for a second before calming down.

His eyes watered and his chest tightened as she opened her eyes and looked up at him. "Hi, Maddie," he whispered, kissing her forehead.

Emil approached him once he was done with Chloe, "we need to take her to make sure everything is okay, but she seems healthy and," he paused, "Chloe has lost a lot of blood and should be out for a while longer, she's stable, but I'll keep her here for a while at least."

Swallowing hard, he reluctantly passed Maddie into Emil's capable hands. "Is Chloe going to be alright?" He looked over at her, his heart beating quickly in his chest.

"It was a close call," Emil said, adjusting the newborn, "but she should be okay."

He nodded slightly, moving back to her side and leaning down to kiss her forehead. "I love you," he whispered. "She's okay. She's perfect, Chloe," he murmured.

"Sir," a nurse approached him, "we need to move her to the ICU, I'm afraid you will have to wait outside."

He kissed her mouth softly before reluctantly pulling away, blinking back tears. This wasn't how it was supposed to happen.

* * *

Lois walked up to Oliver the second he walked into the waiting room, her eyes widening at the expression on his face and redness of his eyes, "what happened? Are they okay?"

"Maddie's fine. Chloe's lost a lot of blood. They're taking her to the ICU." He swallowed hard, rubbing a hand over his face.

"Is she gonna be okay?" Bart asked as he walked up to the two of them. 

Oliver looked away. "She's stable. I don't know anything else." 

"Man, it's Chloe. She's gonna be fine. She's tough," AC said, glancing at Bart and Lois before turning his attention to Oliver.

"When can we see them?" Lois asked, watching Oliver worriedly.

"I don't know. Emil said she'd be out for awhile." He drew in a breath and let it out slowly, suddenly feeling exhausted as he moved over to sit down in one of the chairs in the waiting area.

Bart looked nervously at the others, "guess we have to wait for a while, want me to go grab everyone some food?" He offered.

AC patted his shoulder. "Food would probably be good," he told the younger man when Oliver didn't respond.

Nodding, Bart looked at AC relieved, "okay, I'll be back." He said before starting toward the elevators.

Lois walked over to Oliver and sat down next to him, glancing at Clark who had barely said two words the entire time and had kept himself in the opposite corner of the room. With a deep breath, she chewed on her bottom lip for a moment then leaned closer to Oliver, "they'll be okay, Ollie."

"How do you know?" he whispered, not looking at her.

She sighed softly and sat up a little, moving to the edge of her seat so she was mostly facing him and the others couldn't read her lips or anything, "the weeks I was missing for?" She said quietly. 

Oliver's eyebrows furrowed a little as he waited for her to go on.

"I'm not really supposed to tell _anyone_ this," she said then sighed, "oh screw it, I was in the future." She blurted out then raised her eyebrows, "and I saw you and Maddie and Chloe and you were all healthy and happy, so it's gonna be okay."

He blinked, staring at her. "You were in the future?" he echoed.

"Shh," she told him, waving her hand, "yeah, but that's not the important part. The important part is that I _know_ it's gonna be fine."

Oliver was silent for a moment, and then he looked up as he saw Emil approaching. He quickly rose to his feet. "What is it?"

"Maddie seems unusually upset," Emil said, "there is nothing wrong, but since Chloe kept saying you managed to calm her down, I thought I'd come get you and see if it works." 

His eyebrows furrowed a little and he glanced at Lois with questioning eyes before following Emil down the hall toward the nursery. He could hear the shrill cries as they rounded the corner. His heart skipped a beat and he quickened his steps, barely paying attention as the nurse gave him a special gown to wear over his clothes then handed him the screaming newborn. "Hey," he whispered, rocking her gently as he pulled her close. "It's okay."

Emil nodded at the nurse, dismissing her then looked at Oliver again, raising his eyebrows as the baby almost instantly started to calm down, "I guess Chloe is right."

"She usually is," he murmured, barely noticing Emil as he sat down in the rocking chair in the corner, pressing a kiss to Maddie's forehead as her cries softened to whimpers. "It's okay. I'm here," he whispered.

Maddie stopped crying a moment later and opened her eyes, looking up at him. 

Oliver was a little shocked at how quickly she calmed down once he was holding her, but he wasn't going to question it. He hesitantly reached up and touched her cheek with one finger. He couldn't help but smile at her, warmth spreading through his chest.

Emil looked at the newborn for a moment, "you can stay here with her for as long as you want, I need to go check on Chloe."

"Is she okay?" He looked up at Emil with worried eyes, continuing to gently rock Maddie in his arms.

"She will need some recovery time," Emil said, "but she will be okay, I want to keep her in the ICU overnight at least, but we should be able to move her to a room tomorrow."

"Is she awake?" he asked, glancing at Maddie and then back up.

"Not fully, no," Emil said, adjusting his glasses, "she wakes up every now and then, but she's not aware of anything."

"What happened?" he asked, keeping his voice quiet. "What went wrong?"

"There was an eruption in the placenta that caused the bleeding." Emil told him. 

Oliver's eyebrows furrowed a little. "Is she in pain?"

"No, we've given her painkillers, but she will feel some discomfort for a few days due to the c-section, but that's normal."

He blew out a breath, relaxing a bit at that news. "Will she be able to have more kids?" he whispered.

"She should," Emil told him, smiling a little at that, "we might have to keep a closer eye on her if she does get pregnant again, but it shouldn't be a problem."

Oliver nodded, looking down at Maddie once more and smiling faintly. "All right," he murmured.

"Press that button if you need any help," Emil told him, "I'll let you know if anything changes with Chloe."

"Thanks, Emil," he said quietly, gazing into Maddie's wide brown eyes as she gazed up at him.


	14. Chapter 14

Chloe sighed softly as she woke up slowly, her entire body felt heavy, the bed was far too uncomfortable, the room was far too bright. She shifted slightly and instinctively lifted her hands to her stomach, frowning when it felt flatter than it should have, it felt... _empty_. Blinking her eyes open, she immediately moved to sit up, but there was a sharp pain in the lower part of her stomach and she laid back down, "Ollie?"

"Easy," he whispered, quickly rising to his feet and placing a gentle hand on her shoulder. "I'm right here."

She turned to look at him, her eyes wide, "where is she?"

"Right here," he whispered, laying a hand on her cheek and nodding toward the small, portable bassinet by her bed. "She's right here. And she's fine. Everything's okay." He kissed her forehead.

Chloe looked toward the bassinet for a moment then, with a couple of deep breaths, relaxed a little, closing her eyes again.

"How are you feeling?" he whispered, gently brushing the hair out of her face.

"Sore," she whispered to him, shaking her head, "what happened?"

"Emil said there was an eruption of the placenta," he murmured, gazing at her with worried eyes. "They had to do a C-section. You've been out of it for awhile."

"How long?" She asked, frowning.

"A couple days," he whispered, moving his thumb lightly over her cheek.

Chloe looked up at him, her chest tightening a little, "I wanna see her."

"Of course." He kissed her cheek and then rose to his full height, moving over to the bassinet and carefully sliding his hands beneath Maddie's tiny form. He cradled her against his chest protectively, then moved over to Chloe's bed once more. "Don't sit up," he said gently, shifting and placing her into Chloe's arms.

She held her breath as she took Maddie from him carefully, her eyes tearing up as he laid the baby against her chest and she hugged Maddie to her, "she's so small..."

"She is," he whispered. "But she's perfectly healthy."

Nodding slightly, she lifted her free hand to touch Maddie's hand, then her arm, "was she okay?"

Oliver nodded, as well. "She's been just fine," he whispered, giving her shoulder a gentle squeeze.

Blinking away her tears, Chloe ran her finger gently over Maddie's cheek then touched her nose lightly before pulling her close and lifting her head to press her lips to the top of her head, "I'm sorry I wasn't with you," she whispered.

Oliver's chest tightened at her words. He gently stroked her hair with his thumb, swallowing hard. "You gave us quite a scare," he murmured.

She sniffed quietly and glanced up at Ollie, "I'm sorry."

"Shh. All that matters is that you're both all right." He leaned down and kissed her forehead again. "Everything's all right, Chloe."

With a deep breath, she nodded slightly and closed her eyes for a second then opened them again as she turned to look back down at the baby, stilling when she found her staring back at her, "hi," she whispered, her eyes widening a little at she stared at her daughter in awe.

Oliver gazed down at Maddie, too, smiling even as his vision blurred a little. "She's beautiful just like her mom," he whispered.

Chloe blinked away a couple more tears and leaned down, brushing her nose against Maddie's and smiling a little, "she looks like a Maddie."

He smiled more at that. "Yeah, she does. I uh--we were waiting for you to make the official call on her name before we did any documents. Birth certificates, things like that."

She nodded a little, glancing at Ollie then looking back at Maddie, unable to take her eyes off of her, "I didn't even have time to talk to you about that..."

"I know," he murmured, nodding as he dragged the chair closer to her bedside and sat down slowly.

Chloe took a deep breath and pressed a kiss to the top of Maddie's head then turned to look at Oliver, "how would you feel if she was a Sullivan-Queen?"

Oliver held his breath, nodding a little. "That's good for me," he whispered.

Sighing softly, Chloe relaxed a little and looked back at the baby, who had closed her eyes again, "you still have to pick her middle name."

He watched the two of them for a long moment, his chest feeling warm. "Anne," he said quietly.

Chloe raised her eyebrows a little and looked at Ollie, "that's my middle name."

A soft smile touched his lips as he met her eyes. "I know."

She smiled a little at him then looked down at Maddie again, "Madison Anne Sullivan-Queen." She said out loud then nodded a little, "it sounds good together."

Oliver smiled, as well. "Yeah, it does," he whispered, reaching out and gently laying a hand on her arm.

Chloe watched him for a moment then leaned closer to him, kissing his cheek gently.

He closed his eyes, then turned his head and kissed her softly. "I love you."

She stilled for a moment then smiled softly, "I love you too."

Oliver opened his eyes to gaze at her once more. "What do you think about me starting some renovations on my parents' mansion?" he asked softly.

"Oh?" Chloe asked, a little surprised. She'd never even been to the mansion since she arrived to Star City and she knew Ollie hadn't lived in it for ages.

"It's just...there's more space," he told her softly. "And the backyard's huge, big enough for a swingset and maybe a sandbox or a pool or both." He gazed at her.

She looked at him for a moment, then nodded slowly, smiling softly, "if you're comfortable with that."

He smiled, and kissed her arm lightly. "We can go by and look at it when you're feeling up to it. No rush."

"Okay," she told him quietly, brushing her nose against his forehead when he leaned closer, "how long do we have to stay here?"

"I'm not sure. Probably a couple days or so?" he guessed, given the amount of time she'd been out of it. "I'll talk to Emil."

She nodded a little and sighed softly, looking back down at the baby, who was sleeping peacefully against her chest, "where is Lo?"

Oliver watched the baby for a moment, as well, then looked up at Chloe. "She was here until Emil told her it would be awhile before you woke up. I told her to take the keys and sleep at the apartment," he told her. "It took me nearly three hours to convince her and a promise that I would send Bart to pick her up if anything happened."

Chloe took a deep breath and nodded for a moment, brushing her fingers carefully through Maddie's thin hair, "I'm glad you weren't alone."

"I wouldn't have been anyway," he whispered, looking at Maddie once more.

She smiled a little and nodded, glancing at him, "how have you two been getting along?"

Oliver smiled at her. "Pretty well," he admitted. "I'm ready to buy her a pony," he teased.

Chloe grinned softly at that, taking a deep breath and looking down at her daughter, "you should tell your dad you much rather have a car." She told her quietly.

His chest tightened at the word _dad_. "I think it'll be a few years before she can reach the pedals."

"It will have to come with a pair of high heels, then," she told him, brushing her nose against Maddie's cheek and closing her eyes.

He watched them for a long moment, then slowly rose to his feet, placing a soft kiss to Chloe's head. "Rest," he murmured.

"Where are you going?" She asked, frowning a little.

"To talk to Emil about when we can get you two out of here and home," he said softly.

"Okay," Chloe said quietly then paused, "do you think she'll be okay here?"

His eyebrows furrowed a little. "What do you mean?"

"With me," she told him, looking down at the baby, "what if she starts to cry or something?"

A smile tugged at his mouth. "She'll be fine," he said softly.

Chloe took a deep breath and looked down at Maddie, "hurry up."

He leaned down and kissed her head again. "You'll be just fine, Mom," he teased softly. "But I'll be back soon." He winked at her and headed for the door.

"No pressure," she murmured, mostly teasing as she looked back down at Maddie, brushing her index finger over her hand and stilling when her tiny fingers wrapped around her own, her eyes tearing instantly, "I'm here," she whispered, "I'm sorry I missed the first two days of your life, but I know you were in good hands."

Maddie stirred a little, opening her eyes to look at her again.

Chloe smiled softly blinking away tears, "I promise I'll make it up for you, though," she pressed her lips to Maddie's head, "does it help at all that I found you the best dad ever?"

As if she actually understood, she cooed.

* * *

Oliver pulled his car into the parking lot and shifted it into park, glancing sideways at Chloe in the passenger seat, then in the rearview mirror at Maddie. He smiled softly, reaching out and picking up Chloe's hand.

When he took her hand, Chloe finally turned around to look at him, she'd been watching Maddie the entire ride back, making sure she was okay in the back. She squeezed Ollie's hand and turned to look at him, smiling softly, "it's good to be out of there, but terrifying at the same time."

"What's scaring you?" he asked quietly, gazing at her intently.

She shrugged a little and took a deep breath, "I just keep thinking something else could suddenly go wrong."

Oliver watched her for a moment. "If it does, we'll deal with it," he whispered, reaching out to cup her cheek.

"Are you really this calm about everything or are you just keeping it together for my sake?" She asked quietly, pressing a kiss to his palm.

A smile tugged at his mouth. "Maybe it's a combination of the two."

"You're not scared at all?" She asked quietly, surprised.

He was quiet for a few seconds, and then he glanced back at Maddie. "Yeah, I am. But the good outweighs it."

"I know it does," she whispered quietly, then leaned in and kissed his temple softly, "I just want to keep her safe all the time."

"We will. I'll keep both of you safe," he whispered back.

"And I'll keep both of _you_ safe..." she told him, brushing her nose against his.

Oliver smiled at that, kissing her softly.

She kissed him back, reaching to cup his cheek as she did.

"I love you," he whispered.

"I love you," she whispered back, pulling back just enough to look at him, "and there is no one else I'd be comfortable doing this with."

He smiled faintly at that. "So here's what I'm thinking." He gazed at her. "I'll tuck Maddie in her stroller and we'll all head upstairs. Sound good?"

Chloe pursed her lips together and nodded a little, looking at the baby, "I guess that will be safer than carrying her."

Oliver kissed her forehead. "Relax," he whispered.

"I'll try," she promised him, "I think I would feel better if I could actually pick her up easily."

"You will soon," he said softly. "Emil said it should be okay in a few days." He kissed her temple, then reached for the door handle, sliding his car keys in his pocket. He carefully set up the stroller and then gently set Maddie's carseat in it the way he'd been studying. He pushed the stroller around to the passenger side of the car and held his arm out for Chloe.

Chloe took his arm and nodded softly, looking down at Maddie who was staring up at them, "I wonder if all babies look this peaceful and alert at the same time."

"I don't know," he said, helping her out of the car and supporting her with an arm around her waist.

"I can walk," she assured him even as she leaned into him.

He studied her face for a moment, then reluctantly nodded. If he didn't have a baby carriage to push, he'd carry her.

"Don't worry about me," she told him quietly, "we both have more important things to worry about."

"You are one of those important things I worry about," he informed her.

Chloe pressed a gentle kiss to his shoulder and nodded a little, "ditto."

Oliver smiled at that, keeping his arm around her and pushing the stroller slowly toward the building. "If you need to stop or slow down at any point, don't hesitate to tell me."

"I'm okay," she assured him, wrapping her arm around him too, "although I can't tell you how glad I am to get to sleep in our bed again."

"I can't tell you how much I agree with that statement," he told her.

"Nap when we get upstairs, then," she told him quietly, she knew how horribly uncomfortable the chairs he'd been sleeping on where, "all three of us."

"Sounds like heaven on earth." He grinned at her.

"I couldn't agree more. We need to sleep while she lets us after all," Chloe told him, smirking softly.

He chuckled softly, kissing her temple.

She leaned into him and smiled softly, closing her eyes for a moment even as they walked slowly, just glad to be home. Home with her _family_.

* * *

It was nearly three a.m. and Chloe was sleeping peacefully beside him, her head resting on his chest. He smiled, pressing a soft kiss to her forehead and closing his eyes, already beginning to feel himself dozing off once more when a shrill cry came through the baby monitor.

Chloe shifted, taking her a moment to realize she wasn't dreaming about the crying and took a deep breath, "hm." She mumbled incoherently as she pushed herself up.

"I got it. My turn," he told her, kissing her forehead. "You go back to sleep." He climbed out of bed.

She blinked, looking up at him, "you just got home..." she told him quietly.

"I know." He smiled faintly. "Fifty-fifty, remember?" He winked at her and headed out the door.

She sighed deeply and smiled softly, laying back down against the bed, "best husband ever," she mumbled quietly.

Oliver grinned at the faint comment and headed across the hall to the nursery. "Hey, Maddie. What's wrong?" He carefully lifted her from the crib and cradled her against his bare chest. He smiled when she calmed almost instantly. "I think you just missed your daddy, didn't you?"

Maddie sobbed quietly and looked up at him with big brown eyes.

"Shh, it's okay," he murmured, gently stroking her cheek. "I know you're not hungry because I just fed you a little bit ago. Bad dream?" he guessed, moving to the rocking chair by the window and pressing a kiss to her forehead.

She sighed deeply and calmed down, still looking up at him and reaching to touch his face with her tiny hand.

He smiled and ducked his head so she could touch his cheek. "I have bad dreams sometimes, too. But mostly I have good dreams these days," he whispered, forgetting about the baby monitor on the window sill as he rocked her gently.

Maddie lifted her hand to his nose and touched it gently, fascinated.

Oliver chuckled and kissed her little hand softly. "Yeah I have a big beak," he joked. "But yours is perfect, just like your mom's." He kissed her nose.

Chloe smiled softly, sleepily as she listened to them through the monitor, sometimes, she liked it when it was Ollie's turn just so she could listen to them. It was her little secret.

He gazed down at her, rocking gently in the chair. "I never really thought I'd have this," he told her softly, cradling her closer to him. "You or your mom. Guess maybe I did _something_ right here."

Maddie made a quiet noise and cuddled against him.

Chloe took a deep breath and shook her head a little, a lot more awake now.

Oliver kissed her head softly, closing his eyes. "I love you," he whispered. "And I'm gonna take care of you both. I promise."

She smiled at his words and pushed herself up on the bed, sitting up, maybe it was time to reveal her secret.

He leaned back in the chair, gazing down at her once more as he rocked them slowly, feeling much calmer than he had before.

Maddie cooed and dropped her hand as she started falling asleep again.

Chloe paused at the sudden silence and smiled softly, laying back down. Maybe she could keep the secret for a little while longer.

Less than twenty minutes later he was gently laying her back down in her crib, gently brushing his hand over her soft blond hair and heading for the door with a soft smile on his face. He yawned as he made his way back into their bedroom quietly and slid into bed.

She had already fallen back asleep but woke up slightly when she felt him getting back into bed and resumed her position on his chest, sighing softly. She was so much more comfortable when he was in bed with her.

Oliver smiled as she curled up against him once more, sliding his arm around her and pressing a kiss to the top of her head. "Love you," he whispered.

"Love you," she whispered back kissing his chest softly as she hugged him to her, then relaxed.

He closed his eyes, relaxing even more now that he'd been able to hold _both_ his girls before he fell asleep.


End file.
